By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
The September Outbreak Response (OBR) immunization of under five children has commenced in Sokoto State with a call from the State Government, urging Management Support Teams (MSTs) deployed to the state to provide quality supervision.
Speaking at an orientation meeting at the State Polio Emergency Operations Centre (EOC), prior to the commencement of the campaign, the incident manager (IM) of the Centre, Dr. Ahmad Abdurrahman, while welcoming the MSTs to the State, said that the high number of MSTs posted to the State for the OBR campaign was a clear indication of gaps noticed in routine immunization and the need to address such gaps is of utmost importance to the State.
Dr. Abdurrahman disclosed that because of the circulating variant virus, the OBR campaign will be using Novel Oral Polio Vaccine 2 (nOPV2) stressing that, “we intend to reach every household before the end of the 4 days exercise”.
The IM emphasised on the need for MSTs to pay advocacy visits to community leaders in places they intend to carry out their supportive supervision.
“While advocacy has been ongoing, it is equally important for you, as visiting senior supervisors, to make your presence felt by paying advocacy visits to community leaders. Our target of reaching every household cannot be achieved without the support of those community leaders”, the incident manager said.
While admitting that there might be gaps in previous campaigns, Dr. Abdurrahman pointed out that the greatest challenges are mostly at the lower levels in the grass roots and hard to reach areas.
The IM also allay fears of insecurities that may be nursed by some of the supervisors, saying that no MST will be deployed to any security compromised area. He also advised the supervisors to always liase with the local people and the ward focal persons (WFPs) on areas to carry out their supervision.
The IM, who described their presence in the state as essential, said the state is ready to accept any constructive criticism offered in the course of the campaign, pointing out that, “we believe such constructive criticisms will improve the quality of the OBR campaign”.
Also speaking ,the State immunization officer Ahmed Shehu appealed to the MSTs to pay particular attention poor documentation on tally sheets and house markings.
He also reiterated on the need for MSTs to be polite and friendly when carrying out their activities.
“The only way we can achieve results is by coming down to the level of the teams you see on the field and the local communities”, said Shehu.
He also disclosed that all obligations on the part of Sokoto state government, all obligations that includes counterpart funding, has been fulfilled.
On his part, the AFENET-NSTOP Focal person in the State Dr. Nuruddeen Aliyu advised the MSTs to always key into the Local Government’s supervisory plan for ease of carrying out their supervisions.
He also stressed on the need for the MSTs to always be part of the evening review meetings (ERMs) at both the Ward and Local Government levels.
There were questions, answers and contributions during the orientation meeting.
As at the time of filing this report, already Day 1 of the 4 days OBR implementation campaign has commenced in Sokoto State.