Accra, Nov.1 GNA - The Integrated Child Health Campaign aimed at reducing under-five mortality rate by two-thirds by the year 2015 kicked off on Wednesday with an impressive turned out.

The five-day campaign, combining measles and polio immunisation, administering of vitamin A and distribution of 2.1 million free Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) to children less than two years was the first in the country and is expected to boost the survival rate of millions of children.

In the Greater Accra region, Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa Director General of the Ghana Health Service, who led a team to various immunization points said exercise was one of the "most important goodies of Health" and that it was the best thing a nation could offer her young ones.

=93If all children from zero to five years get immununised, a balanced diet a day with safe drinking water it would reduce the health sector budget drastically"

At Bukom Square, Agbogbloshie market, Maamobi and Nima long queues had been formed with parents and their children waiting for their turn to get the free ITNs.

At Bukom, 99 children had received polio vaccines, 89 for vitamin A, 77 for measles and 76 had received ITNs around 0010 hours when the GNA visited.

Ms Adoley Thompson who was yet to be served told the GNA that she had been motivated by the distribution of the free ITNs to send her child to be immunized.

Agbogbloshie had recorded 270 children who had received polio vaccines, 160 for measles, 173, for vitamin A while 116 children under two had received their nets around 11am.

The situation was not different at Nima and Maamobi, where over 500 and 600 people had been immunized respectively and a little over 300 ITNs distributed.

Prof Akosa said the fact that there had not been any reported death due to measles since 2003 did not mean that Ghana should relent in efforts aimed at 93kicking out=94 measles and polio and urged mothers to use the nets to make the malaria free exercise a success. The campaign, he said, was expected to target about 5.959 million children from 0 months to 59 months for polio and about 5.065 million children from nine months to 59 months for measles with a cost of about 162 billion cedis.

There would be 9,050 immunisation points, 9,505 vaccinators, and 28,514 volunteers to ensure that all the children were covered.