No fewer than 25 polio variant cases have been detected in nine local government areas of Kebbi State, the health educator at the primary healthcare development agency of Kebbi State, Yusuf Umar Sauwa, disclosed.
He disclosed this during a one-day stakeholder engagement meeting held at the Polio Emergency Center in Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday.
Presenting the polio variant cases discovered in a presentation to stakeholders and other donor agencies operating in the state, Umar Sauwa said: “Nine local government areas of the state were reportedly affected.”
According to him, methodologies and ways are being adopted to tackle the affected areas, adding that they are trying to see how best they can stop the transmission of the disease and improve children's immune systems.
He noted that the essence of the meeting was to inform social mobilisation officers of the need to come up with methodologies for adequate information that would be communicated to the grassroots so that the community would be engaged.
He said this would allow the community to participate and enable them to achieve the set goals and objectives.
“We are trying to see how we can vaccinate children under five to boost their immunity and fill the gap in those circulating variants of polio.
“We are looking at occurrences of these variant viruses and vaccines; it’s a challenge to Kebbi State. We are trying to see how best we can stop the transmission of the disease,” he said.
He listed the affected local government areas to include Birnin Kebbi, Argungugie, Suru, Bagudo, Gwandu, Aliero, Fakai, and Danko Wasagu.
The meeting had donor agencies such as Medicaid, WHO, UNICEF, the Chigari Foundation, incentives, religious leaders from both Islam and Christianity, journalists, and traditional rulers, among others.