Sokoto Govt. urges stakeholders to help sustain immunisation success

The Dep. Gov. of Sokoto State, Alhaji Idris Gobir, has solicited the support of stakeholders in sustaining the achievements so far recorded in the fight against poliomyelitis and other child-killer diseases in the state.

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Gobir made the call in an expanded stakeholders’ meeting on the eradication of polio and other diseases organised on Wednesday in Sokoto by the State Government, in collaboration with UNICEF.

He said that the State Government remained committed to eradicating polio among children by ensuring full compliance to routine immunisation against all child-killer diseases.

According to him, the state has personnel, resources and capacity to bring an end to the virus.

He described the continued prevalence of the virus in the state as a source of concern to the government.

Gobir expressed the confidence that with the concerted efforts of all the stakeholders, the disease would be eradicated in the state.

Earlier, the Commissioner for Health, Dr Umar Abubakar, said as at December 2022, Sokoto and Zamfara States were the only states in the Northwest, where the virus was confirmed to be in existence.

Abubakar said that while Zamfara was making efforts to eradicate the virus, Sokoto State Government also deployed strategies to tackle the disease.

He said that his ministry officials identified two major challenges of rejection of vaccines by parents and manipulation of the vaccination process by the vaccinators as factors slowing down the fight against the virus.

He described non-compliance and inefficient data collection as the major reasons behind the continued resurfacing of the virus in the state.

In an address, the UNICEF Country Representative, Mrs Christian Munduate, said that Sokoto North and South Local Government Areas had the highest number of polio cases.

Munduate further said that fake fingerprint marking by some parents and vaccinators was one of the challenges facing the campaign against the scourge in the state.

She, therefore, expressed the need for all hands to be on deck to address the challenges.

The event was attended by religious and traditional leaders from the 86 districts of Sokoto State, including the Sultan of Sokoto, represented by the District Head of Wurno, Alhaji Kabir Alhassan, and Chairman, Sokoto House of Assembly Committee on Health, Alhaji Kabir Dauda.

Others were the Commissioner for Local Government Affairs, Alhaji Ibrahim Dadi-Adare, the Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Alhaji Abba Shehu, as well as the Chairmen of the 23 Local Government Areas of the state.

NAN/Wumi