3.4m children immunised against polio in Kaduna -Official

No fewer than 3.4 million children have been immunised against polio in Kaduna State in the just concluded round of polio immunisation, an official of the state Primary Health Care Agency, said on Tuesday.

The Health Education Officer of the agency, Alhaji Hamza Ikara, revealed that the figure represented 80 per cent of the targeted population.

He described the exercise, conducted in the 23 local governments areas of the state, as a 'great success'.

Ikara said that the state had provided free medical treatment in some areas to address the challenges of non-compliance and rejection of polio vaccines.

'The state has been free from polio infections in the past 14 months; we hope to continue working hard to record more successes,' he said.

He said that the state could have achieved 100 per cent target, but for the minimal non-compliance and resistance by some beneficiaries.

'We are happy there is no reported case of polio disease in the state, and we hope to record more success and end the issue of non-compliance before the end of this year.

'We want the state to be totally free from polio and other diseases,' he said.

Ikara attributed the feat to the contributions of women and youth groups, development partners, religious leaders and traditional rulers.

'Some of our development partners like the WHO and UNICEF supported us by conducting 65 health camps in the state and mostly in the high risk local government areas,' he said.

He also commended the State Government, Dr Ahmed Gumi, Prof. Usman Yusuf and Dr Sani Gwarzo for educating people over non-compliance.

The official, however, urged care-givers to cooperate with vaccinators during the next round of the exercise in March. NAN