Polio: Yamaltu/Deba traditional, religious leaders’ involvement boost vaccine acceptance by 80% – Stakeholders
Stakeholders in Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area of Gombe State have commended traditional and religious leaders in the council, stressing that their involvement had boosted vaccine acceptance by over 80 per cent.
Mr Ibrahim Aliyu, the Local Immunisation Officer for Yamaltu/Deba Local Government Area on Monday said over 71 per cent of the council had been covered in Day 1 and 2 of the polio immunisation in his LGA because the traditional and religious leaders were driving the campaign.
Aliyu stated this while interacting with journalists who visited Deba Community to monitor the implementation of the polio vaccination campaign that was flagged off by the Gombe State government in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday.
He stated that the council recorded the most non-compliance status in the state based on the last round of immunisation held in November, 2024.
According to him, stakeholders in the LGA were determined to change the narrative towards ensuring that more children in the council were reached for vaccination.
“We are in Day 3 implementation, and all is well; everything is going fine.
“In November 2024 during the last round of immunisation, we had 37 pending non-compliance in the LGA and in that regard all efforts are being made to change that narrative through grassroots engagement with critical stakeholders from the traditional to the religious leaders.
“Now, the district, ward, and village heads are very much involved, and the level of their involvement is yielding the desired results in terms of implementation.
“From Day 1 and Day 2, we have 71 per cent of coverage and today Day 3, we have improved on that coverage to about 90 per cent,” he said.
The immunisation officer said that as at Day 3, the non-compliance cases had reduced to few, expressing optimism that the few remaining cases would be resolved.
He attributed the success in coverage, largely, by 80 per cent, to the intervention of traditional and religious leaders in the LGA, adding that “without their involvement we wouldn’t have achieved much because they know the people and the people listen to them.”
Corroborating Aliyu, Murjanatu Musa, a health worker vaccinating children in Tudun Sunna community in Deba said the level of compliance was encouraging as she vaccinates about 190 children daily from visiting about 132 houses.
Musa whom journalists met at the community at 11.48am said she had already vaccinated no fewer than 69 children and many of them were receiving the vaccine for the first time since their birth.
She attributed the increasing level of vaccine acceptance to the involvement of the traditional and religious leaders and the massive sensitisation drive by the media and other stakeholders.
Oluseyi Olosunde, Health Officer, UNICEF Nigeria, Bauchi Field Office said that Yamaltu/Deba is important in the fight towards ending polio in the state in view of the high level of non-compliance recorded at the close of last round with precisely 37 households not resolved in terms of rejection.
Olosunde said that the high rejection in the council was responsible for the reason many children in the LGA were not immunised or partially immunised.
He said that since Friday, he and his team had been monitoring the campaign in the council and that the cooperation of the district, ward and village heads had been instrumental to the success recorded so far.
He recounted a scenario of how 13 households that rejected the vaccine on Day 2 was resolved on Day 3, and all the children were immunised with the intervention of a district head in the village.
“From all the non-compliance witnessed in Day 1 and 2 of the exercise, 80 per cent of the cases were resolved through the intervention of traditional and religious leaders.”
He commended all the health workers in the council for showing up on time for the exercise while also commending the Local Government Chairman, Mr Abubakar Hassan Difa and all traditional and religious leaders for taking ownership of the campaign and driving its implementation at the grassroots.
