Saturday 14 September 2013

Boko Haram Blamed as Borno Records 14 Polio Cases

The Boko Haram insurgency has been
identified as the factor responsible for the
recent rise in the cases of poliomyelitis in
Borno State. According to the Borno State Commissioner
for Health, Dr. Salma Anas-Kolo, the state,
with 14 cases was the highest in the country
which he blamed on insecurity in many parts
of the state, which made difficult for health
workers to immunize children in the state. Anas-Kolo disclosed yesterday at a
sensitisation programme for traditional
leaders in the state that Borno has 14 cases
of polio out of the nation's 37 and the
global 44 cases.
She said that the sensitisation programme became imperative in order to meet the
2014 World Health Organisation (WHO)'s
target of freeing the globe of polio. The commissioner, who explained that
Maiduguri was picked for the kick off of the
sensitisation programme because it
recorded the highest cases of six in the
state with its neighbouring council having
four cases, said it was not all a sad story as the incidences could have been higher but
for the dedication of health workers that
withstood the insecurity and went to some
areas to get children immunised. The Shehu of Borno, Alhaji Abubakar Ibn
Garbai Al-Amin Elkanemi, who hosted the
sensitisation programme at his palace,
called on his subjects to avail their children
from 0-5 years to take immunization
vaccine against the five killer diseases. He asked all traditional institutions in the
state to intensify effort towards fighting
polio, insisting that the government would
not give them any drug that will harm them. He admonished them to tell their subjects
to take the drug, noting that Borno being
the citadel of knowledge cannot continue to
promote the idea that immunization is
targeting at birth reduction.

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