Adamawa members of Journalists Against Polio (JAP) in collaboration with other stakeholders in the health sector on Thursday held a rally to mark this year’s World Polio Day.
The participants who walk through the most busy roads in Yola, the state capital holding banners and placards with enlightenment messages on polio, rounded up the rally at the Specialist Hospital, Yola.
Addressing the crowd at the rally, the Chairman of Adamawa Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Batulu Mohammed said the incident of polio vaccines resistance has drastically reduced in Adamawa.
Mohammed said that successive polio immunization exercise in the state has recorded improvement with the last one recording 90 per cent success.
“Acceptance is now increasing with less resistance and we need to sustain the tempo with more awareness through JAP and support from our partners like UNICEF, WHO, CDC, SOML, C4D and others.”
Mohammed urged parent to keep availing their children for the polio immunization, adding that polio immunization now goes alone with meningitis ‘A’ vaccination.
“No wild polio case has been recorded in Nigeria for the past three years. This is a dream come true, but it did not just a dream by chance; it’s a collective effort of everybody involved.
“We are grateful to all our partners and the state government for the support,” the chairman said.
In his remarks, the Adamawa Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr Ishaku Dedan, said the media would continue to support effort to eradicate polio and other diseases in the society as part of its social responsibility.
Dedan lauded the commitment of the state government and other major stakeholders in areas of health in the state and assured them of media support.
Representatives of WHO, Mr Iyabosa Iginovia and Adamawa Director of NOA, Mr Sudi Ahmad who spoke at the occasion also called for sustained commitment by all stakeholders in the move to eradicate polio.
