The Polio Emergency Operations Centre in Zamfara, said over 2 million children have been vaccinated against measles and rubella diseases in the state.
Dr Murtala Salahudeen, the Incident Manager in charge of the Centre disclosed this in Gusau on Saturday at the press conference to mark World Polio Day.
Salahudeen further said that over 1.8 million children from 0-59 months in the state have been vaccinated against the polio virus.
He described the achievement as a great step in the protection children from deadly but preventable diseases.
“You know, today is an important day to create awareness to the general public on significance threats of polio to socioeconomic development of the society.
“Part of the today’s activities, we review achievements and challenges in fight against polio and other killer diseases.
“Based on various measures taken by the state government in collaboration with development partners especially the World Health Organization (WHO) we have recorded tremendous achievements in Zamfara,”the manager said.
Salahudeen said that the successes were as a result of the commitment of the state government and the strong partnership with all the stakeholders.
“The declaration of emergency on health sector by Gov. Dauda Lawal contributed to the various successes.
“The state government, in collaboration with the partners ensured active technical support and necessary funding from the government to provide polio eradication vaccines,” he declared.
According to him, WHO, UNICEF, Chigari, Sultan and Salina Foundations had contributed in reaching out many hitherto unvaccinated children.
“WHO had provided significant funding and logistics support to reach out hard to reach communities.
“WHO, UNICEF and other partners also was able to provide technical support and capacity building to implementation of routine immunization activities across the 14 LGAs.
“The state government ensured active collaboration by providing all the needed health personnel, facilities and good working environments towards eradicating polio,” the manager explained.
According to Salahudeen, following a strong collaboration between the state government and the security agencies, many hard to reach area were accessed.
“We were able to vaccinate the children even at the nomadic communities,” he said.
