Rotary donates 2,000 polio aprons to Plateau Govt.
Rotary donates 2,000 polio aprons to Plateau Govt.
By Martha Agas
Donation
Jos, July 23,2019(NAN) The Rotary International has donated 2000 polio aprons for field officers administering polio vaccination in communities in the 17 Local Government Areas of Plateau.
Presenting the items to the State Ministry of Health on Tuesday in Jos, Mr Tolu Omatsola, a member of the Nigeria National Polio Plus Committee, said the gesture was to improve field workers’ acceptability in the various communities.
According to Omatsola, the gesture was part of the organisation’s efforts to ensure Nigeria is declared polio free come August.
“The aprons are donations by Rotary International to enable easy identification of field workers during immunisation exercises.
“This will also allay fears of impersonation and address the issues of rejection of immunisation officers in some communities,” he said.
Omatsola, a one time Governor of District 9125, said Rotary had also provided mobile clinics for inaccessible areas, bore holes, mosquitoe nets and noodles, amongst other items, to encourage parents to avail their children for the exercise.
He urged the State Government to strengthen its routine immunisation exercises and resuscitate the state task force saddled with the responsibility of ensuring the total compliance to polio immunisation in the state.
He appealed to government to ensure adequate funding of health interventions particularly for local governments to prevent outbreak of diseases at local level and their possible spread to the larger society.
Dr Martins Azu’ut, the Permanent Secretary,State Ministry of Health, thanked Rotary for the gesture, and assured that the items would be distributed to all the 17 local government areas in the state.
Azu’ut promised that the state government would resuscitate the state task force on polio eradication, stressing that only routine immunisation would help in sustaining Nigeria as a polio free country, if declared so, in August.
” Plateau will be one of the beneficiaries of the primary healthcare provision fund which will ensure sustainability of immunisation programmes.
“Our primary health centres will have their independent accounts and receive monthly funding,” he said.
Azu also thanked Rotary for donating incubators to the state government and implore other groups and corporate organisations to emulate their gesture.(NAN)
MAA/AZA/AMY
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Edited by Polycarp Auta and Abdullahi Yusuf