Polio Immunisation Campaign Receives Boost in Kaduna State

Dr Suomi Sakai, UNICEF D Representative in Nigeria, spent three days in Kakau Ward of the Chikun Local Government Area in Kaduna State to monitor the implementation of the March/April round of the immunisation campaign. At the end of her visit, Dr Sakai told the District Head of Kakau, Mr Zakwai Zarmai, and his team, "I am very happy to see organised teams at fixed posts and going house-to-house. It is very important to reach every child in their homes and communities to help fast track polio immunisation all over Nigeria."

Representative visited 15 houses in the community where she stressed to mothers the importance of taking their children for immunisation against preventable diseases. She also emphasised that regular antenatal care was the most cost-effective way to protect the health of mothers and babies. She praised the community 's commitment to ensuring that their children were vaccinated and polio free.

The District Head noted that his district had always brought their children for immunisation and that he personally supervises the exercise to ensure that every parent allows his or her child to be vaccinated. That, according to Mallam Zakwai Zarmai, was the reason why they had no record of polio cases in their community (at 27 March 2009, Nigeria had recorded 106 wild polio virus cases in 22 states; nine of these cases were from Kaduna State).

Kakau Ward has a population of 26,108. Over 5,000 of the residents are children under 5 years old who are vulnerable to polio. During the last Immunisation Plus days (IODs) held between 28 February and 3 March, the Ward was well represented. Although there is no public health facility in Kakau, the community seems to have adapted well to the fixed-post format of vaccination. The Health Councilor of the Local Government Area said work would soon start building a clinic a piece of land provided by the community.

Dr Sakai urged the State government to ensure that the Primary Health Care Development Agency functions well so that it can coordinate primary health care activities--work that will help achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). UNICEF calls on governments at all levels, the private sector, civil society organisations, the media, parents, traditional rulers and religious leaders to help eradicate polio and to unite for Nigerian children by making practical contributions to children's wellbeing and to support the realisation of their rights in the constitution, the Child's Rights Act, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Union Charter on the Agency functions well so that it can

Polio Immunisation Campaign Receives Boost in Kaduna State

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