United Nations Children’s Fund UNICEF has assured its commitment in supporting Kano state government in Polio eradication.
The UNICEF field office Kano Mr Rahama Rihood Muhammad Farah stated this at the state Immunization Taskforce meeting.
He said the available epidemiological data tells an encouraging story:
So far in 2025, there is only 3 cases of the circulating variant from just 3 LGAs, compared to the 31 cases from 17 LGAs that have faced in all of 2024.
Mr Rahama Rihood also said this dramatic reduction is a direct result of your leadership, the dedication of thousands of health workers, and the strength of the partnership of GPEI partners.
It is a testament to what Kano State can achieve.
He further said this is not the time for celebration; it is the time for vigilance and more focused action.
“To secure our gains, the quality of our upcoming October campaign is non-negotiable.
For the upcoming October round to be a success, we urgently need to take three critical actions:
1. We need to ensure the timely release of state and LGA counterpart funds.
2. We need to strengthen financial and operational accountability at all levels from the state, LGAs and ward level.
3. We need to ensure and guarantee the deployment of senior government supervisors to support the teams in the LGAs and Wards.” UNICEF added
According to UNICEF this high-level oversight is crucial for motivating teams and solving problems in real-time.
“Let me now turn to our coverage data.
While the full compilation for IBRA Cycle 2 is ongoing, the results from Cycle 1 are instructive.
The E-Tally analysis showed that we reached 88% of our targeted children.
While we commend the effort, we must be clear:
Any coverage less than 95% is not sufficient to build the herd immunity wall that we need to succeed in our polio eradication efforts
• This gap between the E-Tally data and the 97% reported on the call-in sheets,
shows us where we must focus our efforts on greater accuracy and transparency.” Mr Rahama said
The UNICEF field office pointed out that to support the state in this final push, UNICEF has intensified its support in the following areas:
• We have deployed a robust team of 8 State Facilitators, 44 LGA Facilitators,
• 246 Voluntary Ward Supervisors, and
• over 2,400 Village Community Mobilizers to ensure this campaign succeeds, and every eligible child is vaccinated.
• Furthermore, we have provided 400 MP3 Bluetooth Speakers with pre-loaded USB discs for social mobilization.
We strongly urge the state to ensure these vital tools are distributed properly, used effectively for community engagement, and retained according to standard operating procedures.
Your Excellency, partners, the pathmm Mr Rahama Rihood Muhammad also mentioned some of strategies that make Kano polio-free.
“We have the strategy, we have the resources, and we have evidence that our work is paying off.
Now, we need to execute with precision, accountability, and unwavering political commitment.” He mentioned
The UNICEF affreciate the state Deputy Governor of Kano State, and Chair of the Kano State Task Force Committee on PHC and Immunization for personally flagging off the last two campaigns in the state.
He also commended LGA Chairmen who monitored the campaigns and participated in their LGAs’ respective review meetings.
” I call on your Excellency and the LGA chairmen to sustain this momentum in the October campaign.
We need to make the October campaign our best one yet.
Let us make the commitment that no child is unvaccinated.
Let us take all the necessary action to eradicate polio in Kano State, and indeed Nigeria.” UNICEF urged
In his speech the state Deputy Governor Comrade Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo expressed Kano state government readiness to make sure that the state maintain its status as Polio -free.
The Deputy Governor who is also chairman state Taskforce Committee on PHC said Kano state government will not tolerate negligence from any local government chairman in supporting Polio immunization campings.
Comrade Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo on behalf of Kano state government affreciate the effort of UNICEF and other partners for supporting the state in Polio eradication.
Speaking earlier, the state commissioner for health Dr Abubakar Labaran Yusuf said the Taskforce meeting usually come after every Two months inorder to discuss the polio immunization exercise across the 44 local government areas of the state.
In his speech, the Director General state primary healthcare management Board Professor Salisu Ahmad Ibrahim said in the last polio immunization campaign took place in the month of June across the 44 local government areas, 22 local government areas Performed very well while the remaining 22 local government areas Performed below average.
Professor Salisu Ahmad Ibrahim highlighted the significant majors taken by the state government in reducing the high number of mertanal Mortality, zero Dose and malnutrition challenges facing the state.
Also speaking, the Emir of Kano Malam Muhammad Sunusi II assured all the support for the exercise from the state Emirates Council in order to make the children healthy.
