Nigeria - Nigerian polio virus prevalence embarrassing

Citation

(2009), "Nigeria - Nigerian polio virus prevalence embarrassing", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 22 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2009.06222bab.015

Nigeria - Nigerian polio virus prevalence embarrassing

Article Type: News and views From: International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 22, Issue 2

Nigeria - Nigerian polio virus prevalence embarrassing

Keywords: Health promotion, Ill health prevention, Universal immunisation programmes

Governor Mohammed Namadi Sambo of Kaduna state has said that the 751 cases of wild polio virus recorded in the country makes it responsible for 90 per cent of such cases in the continent of Africa this year, an embarrassment to the Federal Government.

Of the 751 cases, Kaduna state recorded 48 as Katsina, Zamfara and Kano states recorded 78, 85 and 263 cases respectively. Sambo however said that his administration would attempt to eradicate the disease completely by equipping the 115 Primary Health Care centers, even as immunization against polio would be regarded as part of the general duty of the centers.

Sambo was represented by the Commissioner of Health, Dr Peter Everton at a breakfast meeting organized by a group known as Journalists Against Polio (JAP).

The Governor stress that all the 751 cases of polio were recorded in 25 states with the bulk of it from the north pointing out that this was unacceptable and a source of concern to all leaders in the country especially those from the north in particular.

According to Governor Sambo, all the PHCs would be equipped to ensure that people go there for immunization and other medical needs instead of always frequenting general hospitals. He then blamed the high number of victims recorded in the north to unscrupulous immunization officers who bury oral polio vaccines inside holes and then come back to report to their supervisors that they have administered it to the children in their area of coverage. Describing the media as key partners in the struggle to eradicate the disease, Sambo advised journalists in the country to join hands in the campaign so that the country would not be listed with India, Pakistani, and Afghanistan as four endemic countries in the world with endemic cases of polio. According to him, out of 125 countries in the world with polio in 1985, only these four countries today still recorded the polio virus.

The breakfast meeting was organized to sensitize the media executives on the need to do more in their various media on the struggle to eradicate polio in the country had in attendance, religious leaders, civil societies groups and members of the State Action Committee on Immunization (SACI).

However, the state Coordinator of World Health Organisation (WHO) in the area, Dr Emmanuel Musa who gave the current measles situation in the country said that the north is also leading other regions in confirmed cases of measles, pointing out that Kaduna state is behind Jigawa, which has the highest cases of the disease in the country.

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