Polio Variant: Sultan Foundation Meets Religious, Community Leaders To Address Vaccine Rejection

A non-governmental organisation, Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development (SFPD), has engaged religious and community leaders on addressing polio vaccine rejections in Sokoto State.

The event was organised in collaboration with Sokoto State Ministry for Religious Affairs and Sokoto State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (SSPHCDA), on Friday in Sokoto.

Sokoto state is leading with high number of cases at present following recorded 61 cases of Poliovirus Type 2 (CVDPV2), which experts blamed on the inability of parents to avail their wards for immunisation and security challenges affecting the state.

SFPD director of Programmes, Dr Aminu Inuwa, in his address described participants as pillars of success on any programme in the society as they are custodians and shapers of attitudes.

Dr Inuwa said the exercise was to strengthen demand creation of vaccination in the community and address gray areas where people need elaborative explanations on vaccination as well as related issues.

He added that leaders would also be engage at all levels in the exercise and highlighted expected responsibilities as well as chain of addressing disagreements and overall situational reports.

Dr Mubarak Saleh, the State Team Lead of Solina Foundation, reviewed the criteria of personnel engagement from ward, village to local government levels and urged stakeholders’ to strictly abide by the guidelines.

He lamented that most of the non-compliance cases were recorded in the metropolitan local government areas comprising Sokoto North, Sokoto South, Wamakko and Bodinga with few outside.

Saleh urged leaders to be instrumental in address the hitches as donors and governments were investing more on safeguarding peoples’ health, so community needed to reciprocate the efforts.

According to him, one infected person can spread the disease to 200 children stressing the need for stakeholders to live up to their responsibilities.

Leading the roundtable discussions, the Commissioner for Religious Affairs, Dr Jabir Maihula, stressed the need for broader understanding within religious context on diseases, treatment and preventions.

Maihula led in resolving questions from the participants mostly bordered on why investments on vaccinations, rather curing direct diseases such as malaria and others.

The commissioner further assured support for the coming immunization campaign which starts on Saturday April 20, across the state.

The executive secretary of SSPHCDA, Dr Larai Tambuwal, who was represented by Director of Social Mobilization and Advocacy, Mr Dahiru Kamarudeen, assured more support in order to achieve the desired success.