Gombe Plans Anti-Polio Campaign In Border Towns

Gombe State Government is to commence immunisation of
children in border areas during the next Immunisation Plus Days (IPD), Alhaji
Ibrahim Bebeji, the UNICEF Consultant for the state, has said.

According to information available to The Tide the state
Ministry of Health had targeted children left out in previous exercises,
including those in border communities.

“Considering the position of Gombe in the North East sub
region, surrounded by states with polio infection, there is the need to
intensify efforts to immunise children in the border settlement.’’

Bebeji said the state ministry of health and development
partners such as UNICEF, WHO, National Primary Health Care Development Agency
were conducting immunisation exercises at short intervals.

“The reason was to ensure that the children who missed the
immunisation in the past would be captured in the subsequent rounds.”

Bebeji explained that there has not been any case of polio
in Gombe in the last three years, and that was not an excuse for them to fold
their arms.

“It is time for us to work harder because the aim is to
completely eradicate polio globally, not only in Gombe but in the country.”

He said the state government had overcome cases of polio
resistance in settlements in Gombe, adding that this was with the support of
traditional and religious leaders.