Timothy Olanrewaju, Maiduguri
About 60, 484 children in 2,672 communities do not have access to polio vaccination in Borno, prompting the army to launch an initiative against polio in the state.
Executive Director, Borno State Primary Health Care Development Agency (BSPHDA), Dr Sule Mele, who gave an update on the polio eradication programme in the state yesterday at the opening of a sensitization workshop on Gen Buratai Initiative Task Force for Polio Eradication in Maiduguri, said inability to conduct polio vaccination in the hard-to-reach communities could jeopardise the successes recorded in the zero-polio campaigns.
“Nigeria remains the only polio endemic country in Africa. President Mohammadu Buhari is committed to the eradication of polio,” the Director represented by agency’s Programme manager, Dr Aminu Shettima said.
He noted that the military had been very supportive of the campaigns to end polio in the area, adding that the provision of security by the military remains a big boost to the over 32 months without any case of wild polio virus in Borno State.
He said the world was looking up to the military to expand the reach to the communities as part of application of polio free certification.