JUMADA-AWWAL 7, 1429 A.H.
TUESDAY, MAY 13 2008
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Polio paralyses 17 children in Zamfara -- WHO Official
Mr Alpha Njie, the World Health Organisation (WHO) , Coordinator in Nigeria, has said that 17 children were paralysed by polio in Zamfara in the first quarter of this year.
Njie stated this in Gusau on Saturday at the official launching of the first and second phases of Immunisation Plus Days (IPD).
The first phase will kick off from May 10th to 13th, while the second phase, which will start on May 17, will end on May, 20.
The WHO Coordinator said available records showed that all the affected children were not fully immunised against the disease.
"Seventy-five per cent of those affected by polio were below three years while 65 per cent of them received less than three doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV)," he said.
That, he said, was an indication that the oral polio vaccine was not reaching majority of the children in the state.
The WHO Coordinator said the disease attacked and crippled children, particularly the unimmmunised and the partially immunised ones.
"Once you are paralysed by polio, you are paralysed for life," he stated.
Njie said the only way to protect children against the disease was through routine immunisation and Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), adding that "it is safe and effective worldwide."
He, therefore, called on all the stakeholders in the state to intensify enlightenment towards complete eradication of the disease from the state by the end of this year.
He assured parents that the polio vaccines were safe and effective and urged them to present their children for vaccination, when those handling the exercise visited their homes.
In his remarks, the state's commissioner for health, Alhaji Muhammadu Kabir, said the ministry had organised a workshop for the state technical facilitators and local government health workers.
Kabir said the training programme was organised to ensure successful implementation of Immunisation Plus Days in the state.
He, however, called for routine immunisation of children against the six child killer diseases.
