Rotary International on Thursday said it committed the sum of $300 million to ensuring that Nigeria is delisted from the polio endemic nations’ list. It also said it would reward 90 frontline polio vaccinators for their contribution in the fight against the crippling disease in the country.
The District Governor District 9125, Nigeria, Mr. Mike Omotosho, made this known yesterday at the National Field Workers Award event held in Abuja.
According to him, in June this year, Rotary released a total of $19.5 million and of this amounts, $9 million came to Nigeria. “I must also add that this is just the 90 frontline polio vaccinators that are been celebrated at the national level.
“We had picked 15 from each state to recognise and celebrate them at the state level. What we did was to look at their commitment, dedication and loyalty to ensuring that every child is immunised.”
Omotosho hinted that irrespective of how much money partners put together or how solid the strategy was, “Without these community mobilisers that volunteered to bring the kids out to actually be immunised, the whole efforts would be futile. It is difficult to get at the top but more difficulty to stay at the top. Even when we have been certified as a polio non-endemic nation, we still have two more years of fighting polio to ensure that we do not see any single case again.” He stressed that “All hands must truly be on deck and we are getting all the support we need. As Rotarians, we will continue to devote our time, talents and the money we have to ensure that every child is immunised because as long as there is still one cases of polio anywhere in the world, there is still the possibility of polio resurgence in Nigeria,” he concluded.
Speaking in same vein, the Executive Director, National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr Ado Muhammad, said, the progress Nigeria has made at polio eradication is because of the good partnership between government and development partners.
“We provided the leadership, and drove the programme, but we had solid support from partners. “Partnership has value and results into progress and achievements and no matter what we do, if we don’t get the buy-in of front line workers, there is nothing we can do.”
Muhammad noted that the heroes of polio success in Nigeria are the health workers especially those that lost their lives in the field.
“The most disclosed news globally in the last eight weeks is polio eradication. The positive news coming out of Nigeria now is about polio. Boko Haram is no longer the news. But we must be vigilant and we must not take our eyes off the ball,” he added.
Responding, Chairman, Nigeria National PolioPlus Committee, Dr Tunji Funsho, said that Nigeria shouldn’t rest on her oars because it needs to go another year without having any case of polio before it can be declared polio free.
Funsho explained that the effects of Boko Haram insurgency on immunisation could not stop the efforts, although there are still pockets of the terrorists in the North East, but have been decimated.
“Even while they are operational, we have a lot of innovations of getting to children because Boko Haram is not everywhere all the time. Working with security agencies, we are able to get information as to safe areas where immunisers can enter,” he said.
By: Kasim Sumaina
This Day News
ABUJA: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
PORTHARCOURT: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
LAGOS: Training Schedule for Basic Life Support BLS, Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support ACLS, First Aid, CPR, AED
STOP paying for airtime and electricity, Let your phone pay its bills with ScreenT
You may also like
Comrade Lemii Christian Emerges Chairman of NANNM Rivers State Branch in Historic Victory
PORT HARCOURT, NIGERIA Following the long awaited National Association of N…
FG Supports Robotic Surgery Expansion to Reduce Medical Tourism
Nigeria is taking another step toward strengthening specialised healthcare …
Complete Knee Replacement Rehabilitation Package in Lagos
Knee replacement surgery is a major step toward pain relief and improved mo…
NAMDA threatens strike over unpaid medical lecturers’ allowances
The Nigerian Association of Medical and Dental Academics (NAMDA) has warned…
Resident Doctors Signal End to Strike Threat After High-Level Talks with Gbajabiamila
The threat of a nationwide indefinite strike by the Nigerian Association of…
