By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
Gombe State Government has flagged off it’s second phase of Polio Immunization Campaign tagged “Outbreak Response 2 (OBR2) on Friday, in a colourful ceremony that took place at the Town Maternity (Gidan Magani) of Gombe Local Government Area of the State.
Speaking shortly before the official flag off, the Deputy Governor of the State Manassah Daniel Jatau (Ph.D) said that the February 2023 OBR campaign will target 889,000 under five children across all the LGAs in the State.
The Deputy Governor said that in order to achieve the set target, chairmen of LGAs Task Force on Immunization and Primary Health Care are enjoined to ensure that all eligible children in their respective LGAs are identified and fully vaccinated.
Dr. Jatau also mentioned that the administration of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya has placed health care delivery as it’s top most priority, stressing that there is need for all stakeholders to engage continuously in such campaigns so as to maintain the Nigerian status of a polio free nation in the world.
“You must actively participate, monitor and overcome any challenges that may arise during this OBR2 campaign. You must not fail in this”, said the Deputy Governor.
Earlier ,while stating the achievements recorded in the January 2022 OBR1 , the Executive Secretary (ES) of Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHCDA), Dr. Abdurrahman Sha’aibu said the state had achieved 100 percent coverage in the January OBR 1 campaign, where 815,619 eligible children were vaccinated.
Dr. Sha’aibu further disclosed that there was increase in the number of household visited in the January OBR campaign saying, “our teams visited 588,096 house holds in the January OBR campaign. There was an increase of about 6000 households visited as compared to 583,476 households visited in September 2021 campaign”.
The ES said that all the achievements recorded could not have been possible without the support of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya for creating the enabling environment. He also thanked all the international partners for their technical and financial support to the state.
On its part, the World Health Organization (WHO) in their goodwill message commended the state government for demonstrating the political will in making health care services a priority in the State.
The WHO, represented by it’s North East Zonal Coordinator Dr. Haruna Adamu said, “WHO is proud to associate with Gombe State’s commitment in doing away with the mutant polio virus and generally making health care a priority. This can be seen in the number of dignitaries here present today, led by the Deputy Governor, to flag off the OBR 2 campaign. WHO will continue to provide the State with the needed technical support to strengthen it’s resolve for improved health care services”.
There were other goodwill messages from the NPHCDA, Rotary International and the traditional institutions.
Highlights of the occasion was the administering of the vaccine by the deputy governor and a first class Emir, the Mai Kaltungo, His Highness Engineer Sale Mohammed, to officially commenced the implementation of the February 2022 OBR2 campaign in Gombe State.
