WPD: Expert Wants Nigerians To Celebrate Unsong Heroes

As the world celebrated the 2020 World Polio Day (WPD), last Saturday, the Rivers State Immunization Officer, Primary HealthCare Management Board, Dr Inwon Joseph Urang, has called for the celebration of people he christened “unsong heroes”.
Such unsong heroes, he said, include mothers who willingly take their children or wards to be vaccinated against Polio and health workers who take it upon themselves to ensure that children generally are vaccinated even in the hard-to-reach areas of the world.
Dr Urang, who spoke in an exclusive interview on the sideline of the 2020 World Polio Day, noted that these unsong heroes are the reasons the spread of polio has been successfully checked so far.
“The celebration this time is about the unsong heroes. In fact, for one the mothers’ who are able to bring their children to be vaccinated are the heroes that are not actually praised.
“Then, the health workers, who placed their lives on the line because of people who feel that vaccination is against their religion and beliefs, etc are the unsong heroes”, he said.
While noting that the Rivers State Government has made immunization services free, Dr Urang called on mothers to take it upon themselves to access any government health facility and private health facilities that are in partnership with the state government to ensure that their children are vaccinated.
“We are encouraging every mother and care giver to ensure that their children are vaccinated against polio and every other vaccine preventable disease”, he stated.
The World Polio Day was established by Rotary International to commemorate the birth of Zonas Salk, who led the first team to develop a vaccine against poliomyelitis.
Commonly known as polio virus, it is spread through person-to-person, typically through contaminated water. The polio virus can attack the nervous system and in some cases, lead to paralysis.
It will be recalled that Nigeria has been declared polio free by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
This year’s theme is “A Win Against Polio Is A Win For Global Health”.

Sogbeba Dokubo