The Zamfara government says it is engaging various stakeholders to ensure the success of the forthcoming integrated polio and measles-rubella vaccination exercise that will commence on Monday.

They include partners such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), religious and traditional leaders, and several others.

The executive secretary, State Primary Health Care Board, Yakubu Hussaini, disclosed this in Gusau on Saturday at a strategic media dialogue with journalists, social media influencers, and U-Reporters.

The media dialogue focused on the integrated campaigns for the measles-rubella and polio vaccination campaigns.

The executive secretary said, “We work hand in hand with UNICEF, WHO, and other development partners to ensure the success of the exercise in the state.

“The state government has engaged various stakeholders, including traditional and religious leaders, community leaders, and health workers, among others.”

Mr Yakubu said that over 1,200 teams of health workers, comprising injectors and recorders, had been mobilised to carry out the exercise in the 10,000 settlements across the 147 wards of the 14 local government areas of the state.

“All arrangements have been concluded for this campaign that will cover all the children in the state.

“We have a strong partnership with traditional rulers across the state through the State Council of Chiefs to ensure mass mobilisation at the grassroots for the success of the exercise.

“Our Imams used Friday prayers’ sermons to educate the members of the general public on the importance of the vaccines for the safety of our children,” he explained.

Mr Yakubu called on the members of the public, especially parents, to take advantage of the vaccination to protect their children against diseases.

He reiterated the state government’s commitment to ensuring the successful conduct of the campaign.

Also speaking, Murtala Salahudeen, the incident manager, Polio Emergency Operations Centre in the state, said the vaccination exercise was expected to last for 10 days, with a two-day mop-up exercise between October 16 and 17.

Mr Salahudeen said that children from nine months to 14 years were to be administered the measles and rubella vaccine, while children from birth to nine months would receive an oral vaccine against polio.

(NAN)