Health Officer attributes polio cases in Kano to negligence by some parents

The December case of wild polio virus discovered at Kura Local Government Area of Kano in December was due to non-compliance by the parents of the child.

The Director, Public Health, Kano State Ministry of Health, Dr Nasir Mahmud, said this to members of Journalists Against Polio, on Friday at a stakeholders' meeting to wrap up the January immunisation exercise.

The Director made it known that the case was uncovered after the December round of the exercise, stressing that it was due to non-compliance by the parents of the child.

He, therefore, urged parents and guardians in the state to accept the polio vaccine for their children, who were below the age of five, so as to compliment the effort of government.

The January round of the exercise was said to have recorded significant improvement with the high level of commitment received from the local governments and other stakeholders in the exercise.

Malam Hamza Umar, a representative from the Centre for Disease Control, further described the January exercise as the 'the best of its kind in Kano'.

Umar said that no data was obtained extraneously but was collated from house to house.

Umar recommended that medical personnel be trained at ward levels to intensify supervision at the local government levels and to conduct a micro plan across the 44 local government areas of the state.

Non-compliance by some parents in terms of polio immunisation still remained an issue in Kano, inspite of the efforts of the state government to do away with the act.