title: Implication of vaccination on measles reduction and elimination in Nigeria.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The availability of a safe and effective vaccine has encouraged the establishment of measles mortality reduction and elimination goals in six World Health Organization regions. In the WHO-AFRO region, they intend to eliminate measles by 2020. This initiative led to the successful elimination of measles in 2012 in the American region. This study mined data from independent investigations in two geographical regions in Nigeria in order to observe the prospects of preventive measures against wild measles virus in a resource limited setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective data from 757 children between the ages of 10 months and 13years were used. 500 were from children in Kano, Northwest Nigeria and 257 from children in Ibadan, Southwest Nigeria. Data analysis was done using SPSS 16.0.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all, 386 (75.4%) of the vaccinated children were protected while 121 (23.6%) were not protected. In the unvaccinated children, 63 (25.7%) were protected while 135 (55.1%) were not protected (X2=120.919, p=0.000). In Kano, 81 % of the vaccinated children were protected while 18.4% were not protected. In Ibadan, 95% of the vaccinated were protected (X2=22.129, p = 0.000).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The herd immunity in both Kano and Ibadan is good enough to reduce wild measles virus infection. This finding is encouraging because Kano has suffered several epidemics prior to the vaccination campaigns resulting from religious apathy which is the bane of vaccination efforts. Here is evidence that with the right approach in Northern Nigeria, it is possible to sustain national and global immunization drive.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan.
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Onoja
authors.affiliation: School of Medical Laboratory Science, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto.
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Hamid
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan ; World Health Organization Polio Reference Laboratory Ibadan, Nigeria.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Adeniji
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Bayero University Kano.
authors.forename: M D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Mukhtar
keywords: developing country; immunization; measles; vaccination