Borno state government in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) has flagged-off July 2023 Polio Outbreak Response Vaccination Campaign.
The Executive Director of the Borno State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Professor Mohammed Arab Alhaji, revealed that the Polio Programme in the state was able to interrupt the transmission of the Circulating variant Polio Virus (cVP2).
“It has been 13 months without a case of cVP2 in Borno state. We will continue to work as a team to sustain Polio-free status”.
“Our children are at the risk of Polio infection; the current low level of Routine Immunization makes our children highly vulnerable to Polio,” he said.
In his goodwill message, the Borno state WHO state coordinator, Dr. Ibrahim Audu Salisu, thanked the state government for its strong leadership and commitment, and giving health the topmost government priority.
“This campaign is yet again another moment and opportunity for the state government to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring access to quality healthcare by all.
“The campaign commencing today is a Supplemental Immunization exercise aimed at eliminating the risk of transmission of all forms of the Poliovirus and boosting immunisation coverage in the state.
“Our partnership with the Borno state government, and relevant stakeholders has resulted in a successful planning and deployment of necessary resources for the campaign to commence,” he revealed.
According to Dr. Salisu, up to 2,506,233 eligible children, 0 to 59 months of age, are targeted for vaccination in this campaign in the 26 implementing LGAs of the state.
He further called on the LGA authorities in the 26 implementing LGAs and community leaders to provide the necessary support for this campaign to be successfully implemented.
“We call on parents and caregivers to come out, during the four days of the house-to-house campaign, to ensure their children are vaccinated…”, he added.
