Ismail Mudashir
19 September 2009
Worried about the continued spread of Polio in the northern part of the country, the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa'ad Abubakar yesterday inaugurated a committee consisting of 14 traditional rulers for the eradication of disease.
The most polio endemic states which include; Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Bauchi, Sokoto and Niger among others have a representative each in the committee.
Speaking at the inauguration, the Sultan called on traditional rulers in the 14 endemic states to sensitize their subjects on the need to get their children vaccinated. 'We must do our best to find a lasting solution to this problem. Our commitment must be absolute and irreversible whenever the welfare of our subjects is at stake," he said. He said with the coming together of all traditional rulers in the region, the spread of the disease would be to the barest minimum. The Sultan urged the Federal Government to look beyond the involvement of traditional rulers and provide the necessary medical facilities in all the primary health care centers in the villages. "There is also need for the government to provide incentives to mothers and if possible, children, this will encourage them to bring out their babies during immunization. The inclusion of something like this in the budget of the Federal Ministry of Health is very necessary," he advised.
Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin blamed the local governments for the lapses in the health sector .'Only very little investment is going to the primary health care centers and this is as a result of the poor performance of our local government. They are not working, in fact, there is need for them to be restructured so that all the tiers of government can be working," he said. The minister while stressing the importance of the participation of traditional rulers in the crusade against polio, said the involvement of traditional rulers in immunization programmes before now was ceremonial as it did not yield the desired result. 'With this committee, the Federal Ministry of Health will work closely with the traditional rulers on the, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the ongoing polio campaign and other relevant health issues. I am assuring you that with this development, we are going to make headway in this crusade" he said.
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