Measles in Nigerian children in Calabar during the era of expanded programme on immunization.

Children admitted with measles to the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria, were studied to determine the influence of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), launched in Nigeria in 1984. The data suggest a downward trend in the overall incidence of measles in the first 4 years of the campaign. However, compared with a previous study period (June 1981 to May 1983) in the same institution, the proportion of measles victims aged below 9 months had increased from 15 to 21 percent and the overall death rate had increased sevenfold. Delay in administering the measles vaccine (9 instead of 6 months) and the deteriorating nutritional status of Nigerian children probably account for this negative impact. The advantages of altering the immunization age for measles from 6 to 9 months have not been fully established in Nigeria yet.