Nigeria: Kwara Engages Stakeholders, Media in Polio Immunisation Campaign

Kwara State government has intensified preparations for the April 2026 polio immunisation campaign with strategic engagements involving key stakeholders and media professionals across the state.

At a stakeholders' meeting held in Ilorin, the state capital, religious leaders, community leaders, market leaders and educationists were sensitised on the importance of the immunisation exercise and their critical roles in ensuring its success.

Speaking at the meeting, the executive secretary of the Kwara State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (KWSPHCDA), Prof. Nusirat Elelu, represented by the director of Personnel, Finance, and Supply of the Agency, Mr. Ajide Olayioye, highlighted the pivotal role of stakeholders as trusted voices within their communities.

She urged them to champion the cause of polio eradication by encouraging caregivers to present their children for vaccination.

She also announced that no fewer than one million children have so far been vaccinated across the 16 local government areas of the state.

The agency also held a media engagement session with journalists to strengthen public awareness and promote accurate information dissemination ahead of the campaign, which is scheduled to commence on May 2, 2026.

The social behavioural consultant from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Dr. Usman Danlami, maintained that some local government areas recorded cases of non-compliance during the last immunisation campaign, occasioned by absenteeism, houses not visited, and outright refusal to comply.

He,therefore, implored media practitioners and relevant stakeholders to intensify awareness among mothers and caregivers in order to find a lasting solution to the challenge of non-compliance.

The state social mobilisation officer, Dr. Dupe Shittu, stated that misinformation remains a major barrier to vaccine uptake.

She noted that some parents still avoid polio vaccination due to rumours about harmful side effects on children, leaving many children vulnerable to the preventable disease.

Shittu explained that while reactions to drugs and vaccines may vary from person to person, such reactions are generally mild and manageable.

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