Katsina Records Zero Polio Case In 11 Months, 2.9m Children Vaccinated

As part of events to mark the World Immunisation Week 2026, a health organisation, Heartland Alliance LTD/GTE (HALG) has said  Katsina State has recorded a major public health milestone with about 2.9 million children reached during the March 2026 polio vaccination campaign.

The organisation also said the state has now gone 11 consecutive months without recording a new case of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2).

Chief executive officer of HALG, Dr. Bartholomew Ochonye, said 11 months without a new polio case in a state that was once among Nigeria’s highest-risk geographies is real progress.

Dr. Ochonye, who stated this during a press briefing on Friday in Abuja, noted the poliovirus needs only one missed child to persist.

“That is why finding, counting, and planning for every child is not preparation for the real work. It is the real work,” he said.

According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 20 million children missed at least one routine vaccine dose in 2024, while over 14 million received no vaccines at all. Nigeria accounts for a significant proportion of these zero-dose children, particularly in underserved northern communities where HALG operates.

HALG said its involvement in Katsina began in April 2025 as implementing partner for the Identify, Enumerate, and Vaccinate project, funded by the Gates Foundation through Solina Centre for International Development and Research (SCIDaR) and implemented in partnership with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.

The organisation said, in that first phase, over 4,000 of its teams conducted house-to-house enumeration across 2,356 hard-to-reach settlements, reached 836,712 households, vaccinated 1,603,691 children against polio at 166 per cent of the initial target, and identified over 50,000 zero-dose children who had never received a single vaccine dose before HALG teams found them.

Building on that foundation, HALG was named Lead Implementing Partner for the Immunisation Enumeration Plus and Walkthrough Micro-Planning Exercise across all 34 Local Government Areas in Katsina State.

The 11 month cVDPV2-free milestone is the result of collaboration among the Katsina State Government, NPHCDA, WHO, UNICEF, AFENET, GGHM, community leaders, religious leaders, and implementing partners. HALG is integrated into the Katsina State Polio Emergency Operations Centre to ensure alignment with government-led strategies.

HALG noted that its full integration into the Katsina State Polio Emergency Operations Centre has strengthened coordination and ensured alignment with government-led strategies aimed at interrupting the transmission of all forms of poliovirus.

The organisation said the 11-month cVDPV2-free status highlights ongoing improvements in surveillance, routine immunisation, and rapid outbreak response mechanisms across high-risk communities.

HALG added that the milestone comes at a crucial time, as Nigeria and other countries in the region continue efforts to close immunity gaps and protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases.

“While we celebrate this progress, it is essential to sustain investments in last-mile immunisation systems,” HALG said, reiterating its commitment to supporting government and partners until polio is eradicated across every community.