Leadership (Abuja)
Winifred Ogbebo
29 July 2008
Nigeria remains the only polio endemic country in Africa and one of four remaining polio endemic countries globally, the First Lady, Hajiya Turai Yar'Adua, said today.
Making the statement when she had interactive meeting with some wives of state governors on 'How to Improve Maternal and Child Health and Eradication of Polio in Nigeria," in her office in Abuja yesterday, Hajiya Turai averred that health is on the priority list of the Yar'Adua Administration, hence the rationale for government's huge investment on health sector, particularly on immunization activities.
This meeting came when President Yar'Adua promised to support polio eradication out of Nigeria by the end of 2009.
A statement signed the First Lady's press secretary Hajiya Maryam Gulma, quoted the First Lady describing the poor performance of health care system, particularly at the local level, as one of the major reasons many children in the country do not have access to health services.
The First Lady urged the governors' wives to rally round all stakeholders, government and developmental partners in their bid to immunize children against polio and other vaccine preventable diseases. With this Nigeria can meet new global target of interrupting the wild polio virus from Nigeria by 2009, she said.
Speaking at the meeting, the Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Titilola I. Koleoso-Adelekan, said currently, 15 states are endemic with wild polio virus (WPV), all of which are in the North-west; four in North-east; two in the North-central, as well as Enugu and Oyo states from the South.
She said the First Lady and wives of the governors could champion for health, particularly in the areas of advocacy to state and local government executives and policy-makers, media campaigns, community sensitization and mobilisation.
Mrs. Koleoso-Adelekan disclosed that incidences of very low immunisation coverage continue to sustain high occurrence and outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases and wild polio virus.
She said there is an upsurge in the number of WPV cases, pointing out that as at Friday, July 25, there were 508 WPV cases reported in 22 states (less than 200 cases were reported during the same period last year).
Minister of Health, Dr. Hassan Lawal, said Nigeria is one of the major carriers of polio virus, but with the support of wives of state governors, who are close to the grassroots, the virus will efface. He called on the state governments to allocate available funds to the health sector, which is quite minimal.
In attendance were wives of governors from Bauchi, Borno, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Sokoto and Zamfara states, as well as development partners..
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