Immunisation: Gombe targets 985,000 children in 4 days

THE Gombe State Primary Health Care Development Agency (GSPHDA), says it is targeting 985,000 children, aged 0-5 years, for immunisation within the four-day Immunisation Plus Days (IPDs), period.

The exercise is scheduled to hold from July 3o to Aug. 2.

Malam Musa Kuna, GSPHDA’s Deputy Director, Immunisation, who made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Gombe, said that the agency had already received adequate vaccines for the exercise.

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“The exercise will be mainly for polio with special attention paid to Akko, Gombe and Funakaye Local Government Areas where people resisted vaccination in the previous outings.

He explained that during the exercise, officials would stay in strategic places to lure children with sweets and detergents.

“We adopted that strategy in the past and it yielded positive results. We will apply it again to ensure maximum coverage,” he said.

He said that the agency had trained 910 people out of which 210 persons would be deployed to “difficult terrains” to ensure maximum coverage.

The official said that the last time poliovirus was detected in Gombe was on March 2013, and expressed happiness that no case had been recorded since then.

“Nigeria is on the verge of eradicating poliovirus; parents should cooperate with health officials to achieve this,” he said.