The Chairman, Northern Traditional Leaders Committee on Primary Health Care, His Royal Highness, Samaila Mera, has stated that, Zamfara State has recorded twenty-one (21) cases of Poliovirus Type-2 (CVDPV2) from January, 2023 to date, due to the security challenges affecting the State; which has made it quite difficult for health personnel to access the State.
Mera who is also the Emir of Argungu disclosed this during a meeting with traditional leaders of Totally Inaccessible Communities in Zamfara State, held in Gusau on Tuesday, with the aimed of articulating places that are not accessible due to insecurity.
According to him, the Poliovirus Type-2 was first observed in Zamfara State, and then spread across twenty-six (26) States which include Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger States with about fifty (50) children infected, as well as 29 other African countries.
The Chairman stated that, “Due to the security challenges, the State has the highest number of polio cases in the country because of the inaccessibility of most of the rural areas, as the devastating security situation in the State has made access to many communities and children difficult or impossible”.
“The situation as created risks of outbreak of vaccine preventable diseases especially the mutated vaccine derive Poliovirus. For this reason, the State has the highest burden of the disease in the country.”
In a closing remark, the Executive Director and the Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaibu, said the aim of the meeting entails how to contain the variant transmission by December, 2023.
The Emir therefore urged to strengthened partnership with security agencies to create safe corridors of our health care workers.
