80,000 children to be immunised against disease in Jigawa

dimeji akinloye

June 5, 2015 7:56 PM

The June round of immunisation exercise will kick off on Saturday, June 6, in the 27 local government areas of the state.

Northern Nigeria has seen signs of a resurgence of polio cases, threatening to erase gains that had led to the near eradication of the disease in the country.

The Kiyawa Local Government Council of Jigawa on Friday, June 5, said it is targeting more than 80,000 children for vaccination against polio in the ongoing immunisation.

The Manager, National Programme on Immunisation (NPI), in the area, Alhaji Ashiru Mu'azu, said this through the council's Information Officer, Malam Abdullahi Yakubu, in Kiyawa.

Yakubu said that, according to the NPI Manager, the state government has supplied 78,000 doses of Oral Polio Vaccines (OPVs) for the smooth conduct of the exercise.

He said that the children will be immunised against polio and other child-killer diseases between June 6 and June 9.

The official said the exercise will be conducted under the supervision of the council chairman and his councillors.

According to him, the council has provided 135 cartons of sweets to woo children to participate in the exercise.Yakubu further said a Mop Up exercise for non-compliance for last round of the polio will be conducted on Wednesday in some villages.

He said that the council has also engaged community and religious leaders to mobilise participation in the exercise and urged parents and guardians to cooperate with the health workers.

According to him, over 75,000 children were immunised in the last round of the exercise in the area conducted in April.

dimeji akinloye