The Oyo State government has said the state has not recorded any polio outbreak in the last seven years.
Commissioner for Health Azeez Adeduntan made this disclosure at the weekend during the launch of the first round of the 2017 National Immunisation Plus Days (NIPDs) held at the secretariat of Oyo West Local Government, Ojongbodu, Oyo .
Adeduntan said the government would scale up the collaboration between the state and local governments to ensure that immunisation services reach every child.
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) said over 116 million children in 13 African countries would be vaccinated against polio next week.
In a statement in Abuja on Friday, the UN bodies said 90,000 vaccinators had been mobilised to carry out the immunisation designed to tackle polio stronghold in the continent.
They said the synchronised vaccination was one of the largest ever implemented in Africa.
The statement signed by UNICEF Chief of Communication, Ms Doune Porter, quoted WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, as saying that the exercise was part of urgent measures to permanently stop polio in Africa.
Moeti listed the benefiting countries as Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
He said all children under five years would be immunized.
Moeti said, “All children under five years of age in the 13 countries will be simultaneously immunized in a coordinated effort to raise childhood immunity to polio across the continent.
“In August, 2016, four children were paralysed by the disease in security-compromised areas of Borno, North-East Nigeria, widely considered to be the only place on the continent where the virus maintains its grip.
“20 years ago, Nelson Mandela launched the pan-African ‘Kick Polio out of Africa’ campaign.
“At that time, every single country on the continent was endemic to polio, and every year, more than 75,000 children were paralysed for life by this terrible disease.
“Thanks to the dedication of governments, communities, parents and health workers, this disease is now being beaten back to this final reservoir.”
NAN
The Jigawa Government says it will immunise 1.7 million children against polio in the ongoing immunisation campaign across the state.
Dr Kabiru Ibrahim, Executive Secretary of the state Primary Health Care Development Agency (PHDCA), disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Dutse.
Ibrahim said that enough personnel had been engaged to conduct the exercise simultaneously across the 27 local government areas of the state to ensure that all children had been immunized against the disease.
The executive secretary commended traditional and religious leaders as well as other stakeholders in the state for their support and cooperation in ensuring the smooth conduct of the exercise so far.
Ibrahim, who expressed satisfaction at the level of compliance by parents, urged husbands to always allow their wives to take their children to health care facilities for the routine immunisation.
He also appealed to parents to co-operate with immunisation officials for the exercise to be hitch-free.
Ibrahim said such cooperation would further facilitate quick response in combating the disease and addressing other emergency situations in the state.
NAN reports that the current round of polio immunisation commenced in all the 27 local government areas of the state on Nov. 12.
The Federal Government has re-strategised and doubled efforts to end polio, Minister of Health Prof. Isaac Adewole has said.
He spoke at a meeting with Rotary leaders at Rotary International World headquarters in Evanston, Illinois, United States where they discussed the government’s response to the recent polio outbreaks in Borno State.
He said the government was determined to rid the country of polio, adding that it was worrisome that the new cases of polio has put back Nigeria on the list of countries where the disease is endemic.
“The new cases devastated us. Even one case is unacceptable. It’s very unfortunate we are in this position, but we are recalibrating our efforts to end this disease, we consider this situation a national emergency.” Adewole said.
He said Nigeria, with the help of Rotary and its polio partners, has begun a large-scale immunisation to reach 60 million children by December adding that Rotary has released $8.5 million to support the response in high-risk areas and parts of the Lake Chad Basin.
Adewole said neighbouring countries, including Cameroun, Central African Republic, Chad, and Niger, were also coordinating vaccinations to protect their polio-free status.
To checkmate the resurgence of polio, he said Nigeria in collaboration with the countries in the Lake Chad Basin, was conducting a “ringed fence” immunisation along the countries’ borders to protect children from the polio virus.
“We can’t do this alone, working with the other countries is crucial to the overall polio eradication in Africa.” he added.
Adewole affirmed that it would take sustained efforts for Nigeria to be removed from the list again. He said that government has allocated significant resources for the emergency response on polio.
“Polio eradication is about national pride and honour, we will not let our citizens or the world down,” Adewole concluded.
The Jigawa Government says it will immunise over 1.6 million children against polio in the ongoing polio immunization campaign in the state.
Dr Kabiru Ibrahim, Executive Secretary of the state Primary Health Care Development Agency (PHDCA), disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Dutse.
Ibrahim said that adequate personnel had been engaged to conduct the exercise simultaneously across the 27 local government areas of the state.
He commended traditional and religious leaders as well as other stakeholders in the state for their support and cooperation for the smooth conduct of the exercise.
Ibrahim also expressed satisfaction at the level of compliance by parents and urged husbands to allow their wives to take their children to health facilities for the routine immunisation.
He also appealed to parents to co-operate with the officials in order to ensure a smooth conduct of the exercise.
Ibrahim said the exercise was to ensure that all children in the state were immunised against the disease.
Kano State Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje yesterday immunised six children to launch the October round of the National Immunisation Exercise against polio in Rano Local Government.
Ganduje also openly demonstrated hand-washing as part of activities to mark this year’s United Nations’ Hand Washing Day.
He said the routine exercise was to ensure that 100 per cent of children, equivalent to over 3.2 million target population for polio immunisation in the state, were adequately captured to control spread of the virus.
The governor hailed monarchs and other stakeholders for collaborating with health workers toward ensuring that children were immunised, noting that there are no cases of resistance in recent times.
Commissioner for Health Dr Kabiru Ibrahim Getso said the exercise would last for four days, adding that enough vaccines has been provided and more workers recruited to make the exercise a success.
Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammad Sanusi II, who was represented by the District Head of Ajingi, Alhaji Wada Aliyu, said the Emirate Council and other stakeholders were concerned about the permanent effect of disability caused by the polio virus.
He, therefore, directed traditional leaders to enforce compliance by ensuring that people turnout in their wards massively for the exercise.
The United Nation Children Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concern that lack of funds is hampering it’s efforts in the fight to rid Nigeria of polio virus.
Besides, the United Nations (UN) agency said the lack of access to the children was also posing problem to them.
UNICEF announced that it was targeting 41 million children for vaccine immunisation against polio across Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin.
The renewed efforts is aimed at halting the recent outbreak of the disease in the Northeast.
Nigeria had a clean record for about two years before the recent outbreak.
In a statement issued by the Regional Office in Dakar on the region-wide vaccination campaign in response to the polio outbreak in northeast Nigeria, UNICEF stated that populations fleeing the troubled zone are on the rise within the sub-region, raising concerns that the virus could spread across borders.
Consequently, it said nearly 39,000 health workers are deployed across Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to deliver polio vaccines in areas at high-risk for the virus during five rounds of coordinated vaccination campaigns across five countries.
In a press statement in Abuja yesterday, UNICEF stated that it is procuring the vaccines and engaging the public through mass media and grassroots mobilisation.
It stated: “The re-emergence of polio after two years with no recorded cases is a huge concern in an area that’s already in crisis.” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa.
While the resurgence of polio virus in Borno State has caused panic and concern over the certification of Nigeria as a polio free nation, similar concerns are also expressed in neighboring communities with peculiar challenges.
However, the cheering news has emerged that immunization officials have started accessing the Boko Haram liberated communities in Gujba and Gulani Local Government areas.
The Executive Secretary Yobe State Primary Healthcare Management Board Dr. Hauwa Goni Fika disclosed this at a polio survivor rally held in Damaturu that health officials have started accessing the hard-reached areas of Gujba and Gulani that were hitherto taken over by Boko Haram.
“The good news is that our people have started accessing those hard-reached areas of Gujba and Gulani which were no go area because of the Boko Haram crisis,” Dr. Hauwa informed.
She called on the victims to desist from begging for alms, but rather identify meaningful trades that would change their lives while charging them to be ambassadors of kicking out the disease from Nigeria.
The Nation reports that the Survivors of the polio victim penultimate week staged a grand rally in Damaturu, the Yobe State capital to sensitize the community on the need to accept the vaccine and kick out the disease out of the state and Nigeria at large.
The rally, which had in attendance hundreds of polio victims, including men and women, ridding on their wheelchairs with others on their rollers, members of the Yobe State Social Mobilization Committee, drum beaters and members of the Press began at the head office of the Cripple Association Damaturu behind KeyStone Bank opposite the Damaturu Ram Market and went through some of the major settlements cutting through some major streets in the metropolis singing, dancing and distributing pamphlets to the locales.
The campaign rally also caused some gridlock on major streets as the cripples take over the roads and mount the louder speakers to send their message to the people before it was finally terminated at the NPI office Phase I Damaturu.
A UNICEF official on the campaign train who does not want to be mentioned informed that the rally was predicated on the resurgence of the polio virus in Borno State, adding that “because of the proximity of Yobe to Borno State, proactive measures are taken to ensure adequate awareness of the virus and its danger to the community and on the people”.
The source also disclosed that various mobilization and awareness campaigns like community dialogue, engagement of traditional rulers are going on at the local government level across the state.
The chairman of Damaturu Cripples Association promised to ensure that his members are actively involved in the campaign against polio various, adding that, the mistakes of the past have opened their eyes to ensure that no new born miss the vaccine in the state.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed a third case of polio in Nigeria, Rotary Club said Monday.
According to a Rotary report, a crippled toddler found in an area newly liberated from Boko Haram militants was confirmed as the latest case.
Nigeria had gone two years without recording any case of polio and was to be certified polio free next year before the recent development.
WHO warned that more cases are expected to be discovered in these areas, stressing that “it is an indicator that Nigeria’s war on polio cannot be won until it overcomes the insurgency by extremists who are violently opposed to western medicine.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund has warned that about one million children are in areas too dangerous to access.
Rotary is part of a new emergency immunization drive that vaccinated more than 1.5 million children last week in Borno, where WHO has said the virus has been circulating undetected for five years and where Boko Haram began its uprising in 2009.
The campaign is expected to spread across the country, with a plan to reach 25 million children before the end of the year.
In order to maintain the zero prevalence level of poliomyelitis in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the administration has reactivated the task force to tackle the disease. The task force has the brief to coordinate an immunisation programme to eradicate the disease.
The FCT Permanent Secretary, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye said this while inaugurating the reactivated task force.
Ajakaiye said the action was taken as a proactive measure to prevent any resurgence of the disease in any part of the Federal Capital Territory.
He revealed that the administration has also approved the expansion of the task force membership in order to ensure sector-wide stakeholder participation.
The Permanent Secretary said that this effort of the FCT Administration is geared towards strengthening Childhood Immunization Services across the 8,000 square kilometers of the Territory.
According to the statement issued by the Deputy Director/Chief Press Secretary Muhammad Sule, Ajakaiye insisted that Abuja must remain the pace setter for the 36 states of the federation to emulate and therefore urged members of the Task Team to work very hard to maintain the tempo.
He stated that the FCT Administration would continue to provide all the necessary support to ensure that the programmes earmarked for the sustenance of the agenda are fully implemented.
The Task Force’s terms of reference is to ensure effective leadership and coordination of all immunization activities by the FCT; prepare and regularly review/update a 12 month state plan for the intensification of Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization activities required interrupt/sustain interruption of wild poliovirus transmission.
Other terms of reference are to ensure the formation of LGA inter-sectoral committees to coordinate planning and implementation of quality routine immunisation campaigns at LGA level; to oversee preparation of budgets for immunization activities, advocate for timely and adequate resource allocation and ensure judicious use of all funds allocation for these activities as well as coordinate the planning and execution of polio eradication supplemental immunisation activities amongst others.
According to him, to give the desired impetus the assignment deserves, the reactivated and expanded Task Force would be chaired by himself, the FCT Permanent Secretary and the Executive Secretary of the FCT Primary Health Care Board would serve as the Secretary.
Other members of the 35-Member Task Force include some officials of the FCT Administration, Traditional Rulers, Religious Organizations, Media, World Health Organization, UNICEF, European Union, Emergency Agencies as well as the FCT Area Councils’ officials.
Speaking earlier, the Acting Secretary of the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, Mrs. Alice Odey Achu assured that the Secretariat is poised to sustain the zero status of the Federal Capital Territory in poliomyelitis.
The inaugural meeting to appraise the previous achievements as well as hit the ground running on the new task ahead was held immediately after the inauguration.