Yellow fever outbreak: Bauchi govt vaccinates 500,000 people

In its determined effort to combat the outbreak of Yellow fever in the state, not fewer than 500,000 people are to be vaccinated by the Bauchi State government in Alkaleri and Tafawa Balewa local government areas which are mostly affected.

While flagging off the vaccination exercise on Thursday, Bauchi State Governor, Sen Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir also flagged off an aerial spray of Quella birds, mosquitoes and reactive vaccination in response to Yellow fever during a ceremony held at the Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa International Airport, Bauchi.

Bala Mohammed disclosed that the flag-off exercise which involved the spraying of all affected areas and vaccination of all inhabitants against Yellow fever was a testimony of the commitment of the administration to health issues and response to emergency situations.

ALSO READ: TETFund boss frowns at proliferation of varsities by state governors

The Governor also stated that the vaccination would be conducted for people in high risks areas of Alkaleri and Tafawa Balewa local government areas and urged people living there to come forward to be vaccinated.

He commended traditional rulers in the state particularly the Emir of Dass, His Royal Highness, Bilyaminu Othman for creating awareness among their subjects regarding the outbreak of Yellow Fever in parts of the state and the support of development partners such as WHO, UNICEF, Federal Ministry of Health, among others for their support to the State.

On the aerial spray of Quella birds, the Governor who lamented the menace of the birds on farm produce commended the federal ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for providing aircraft to be used to spray 38 rusty sites

The Governor said that “The aircraft came at the needed time. We are leveraging on the federal government’s gesture to use the aircraft to spray the areas where the vector carrying Yellow Fever are believed to be”

He then assured that his administration would continue to give priority to health and preventive medicine hence the declaration of State of emergency in the health sector and increase of the health budget to 16 per cent in the 2019 State Budget.

The Governor also said that as a demonstration of the commitment of his administration to the sector, N200 million been paid by the state government as counterpart funds to the Melinda and Bill Gates and Dangote Foundation, UNICEF and USAID.

“Despite the state of emergency to reposition the health sector, indices such as the rates of Infant and maternal mortality are worrisome. I have therefore given marching orders to the Honorable Commissioner for Health to convene a Health Summit to enable us to know the gaps,” he said.

Earlier in his remarks, the Director of the State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed,  commended the Governor for the quick response to curtailing the disease.

Bala Mohammed said that following the outbreak of Yellow fever a few weeks ago, the state government set up an Emergency Operation Centre in collaboration with development partners such as the WHO, NCDC, UNICEF, FMOH among other partners which helped curtail the spread of Yellow Fever outbreak in the state.