Africa’s richest man Alhaji Aliko Dangote has donated $500,000 through the Dangote Foundation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to support efforts at managing recent measles outbreak affecting many states in Nigeria.

According to Business Day Nigeria, the donation was announced at the weekend in Lagos during a visit to the office of the president of Dangote Foundation, by a delegation of UNICEF led by Jean Gough, the country representative.

Commenting, Gough said: “Public/private sector interventions such as these in the health sector and other sectors such as water, early childhood development are the way forward for Nigeria to improve the well-being of Nigerian children.”

Measles is a leading cause of child mortality in Nigeria, especially in areas where immunisation coverage is low.

According to report, the trend of measles follows a seasonal pattern with periods of high transmission (January to June with peaks in March) and low transmission (July to December).