LOKOJA Dr Abubarka Yakubu, Executive Director, Kogi State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (KSPHCDA), has urged local government administrators to be actively involved in routine immunization against killer diseases in the state.
Yakubu made the statement at the flagg-off ceremony of January 2019 Local Immunisation Days (LIDs) for women and children in Okofi, Kogi/Kotokarfe local government area of the state.
He said that the Local Government Council administrators should take responsibilty and ensure that people in hard-to-reach communities in their locality, access full implementation of all stages of routine immunisation.
We want the routine immunisation to be entirely a local goverment affair, while the agency at state level would give all the needed support to the LG to carry out this exercise on their own.The local governments should see the routine immunisation as everybodys responsibility; we do not want our children to be in bondage of death from preventable
We have been having problems with some of our reports that are coming from LGAs especially from the areas that are hard-to-reach in terms of routine immunisation.It is on this note that we felt we should conduct this flagg-off at the remotest part of the settlements at the local government level
This means that we are carrying the issues directly to the door steps of the people in the remotest areas at the grassroots.We want our sole administrators to be involved in this immunisation programme by mobilising mothers and their children in their communities to come out en masse and access the free commodities.
We need the support of the local governments in reaching out to hard-to-reach areas of the state. we are doing our best by conducting monthly routine immunization with supportive supervision. We are sensitising the LGA administrators to know the implication of not getting involve in the routine immunization programme. We will ensure that the commodities reach every LGA.
The state has been on top of the situation and we are not going to relent our efforts to ensure sustainability of the routine immunization programme across the state.We are giving fund to people in the facilities to encourage them to go inside the hard-to-reach areas so that the people can access these free commodities. It is free and save, Yakubu said.
The executive director reiterated that children and women should be encouraged to be immunized against killer diseases, adding that sole administrators should be fully involved in the programme
Whatever effort they can put in place that will support the routine immunization to get to the hard-to-reach settlement will go down well and be highly appreciated in protecting our children from these killer diseases.We are here this afternnoon to see how we can galvanise efforts and encourage our mothers to come out enmasse and get their children between age 0 to 5 years immunized.
This particular area gave us some problem during the general immunisation due to security challenges and peoples ignorance, and that is why we are here to take care of them.Pregnant mothers will also be given immunisation that will protect them and their unborn children, thereby helping the communities and the state at large, Yakubu said.
In his remarks, the Kogi/Kotokarfe local government administrator, Mr Tanko Yusuf, who was represented by Mr Jibril Idris, the LG Health Supervisor, commended the government for bringing the routine immunization to the remote settlements.
