Tudun Wada local government area of Kano State has witnessed an increase of polio vaccine uptake, with a reach to additional 3,000 children in the latest round of campaign in the state.
Findings from record obtained by our correspondent at the Tudun Wada Primary Healthcare Centre revealed that a total of 102,526 children were vaccinated with 112,550 doses of Novel Oral Polio Vaccine(NOPV) and 108,500 doses of Bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine(BOPV) against 99,575 children reached with 111,100 doses in the first round.
Tudun Wada had in 2024 recorded cases of resurgence of circulating polio variant and vaccine rejection, making it one of the high risk LGAs in the state.
However, a field visit by LEADERSHIP during the exercise revealed a remarkable improvement and acceptance by people of the area.
The local government coordinator of the Primary Health Care Board (PHC), Habibu Musa, attributed the success to the use of pluses which attracted many children, community-based ad-hoc staff who knows their settlement as well as the non-compliance resolution committee who assist to tackle immediate challenges.
While explaining that the vaccine is gaining more acceptance in many of the communities that hitherto rejected it, he said the area is also witnessing influx of visitors with some indigenes who are Fulani that returned with their families for the farming season.
He noted that, in most instance, the leader of the Fulani (Ardo) or any other community head, provides them with information on the people with children who are located and vaccinated.
“Over 90 percent of the ad-hoc staff are recruited from the settlement because they know the areas and some of the people are their relatives and that is another reason we recorded minimal non-compliance.
“All the necessary things needed for the exercise were provided and we had large children turned out to an extent that we collected additional doses of vaccine,” he stressed.
In his remarks, the focal person of Tshohon Gari community, Suleiman Mohammed, commended the effort of the state government and stakeholders in providing pluses such as noddles which attracted large turnout of children during the exercise.
He recounted that unlike the first round where his team recorded eight noncompliance issues, only three were recorded in the second round, which was resolved by the non-compliance resolution committee in a follow up exercise.
Meanwhile, Kano State Government with the support of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), UNICEF and other partners have implemented the June Polio Vaccination campaign with the goal of eradicating polio transmission in the state before December, 2025, especially with the three cases recorded earlier in the year at Warawa, Bunkure, and Nassarawa LGAs.
