Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State has appealed to parents
and guardians in the state to make it a habit to immunize their babies at the
appropriate time when they are born in order to avert preventable diseases and
secure their future.
Governor Oshiomhole gave this admonition while flagging off
the first round of the 2016 National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) in Benin
City on Friday.
Oshiomhole said, “I am really delighted to be here and I
want to appreciate first and foremost, our development partners, including the
representative of the Federal Government, the Zonal Director, the World Health
Organization and all the others who are not only extending a helping hand but
encouraging us to sustain what we have already started and also taking time out
to travel from Abuja to this great city of Benin to be part of this. We want to
appreciate your interest and we assure you that we value this partnership, and
as you can see from the faces of the young women and the very beautiful
children, they appreciate all of these efforts.
“I am happy to observe that whereas I assumed
duty at Osadebey Avenue on the 12th of November, 2008, one year
later, from 2009, there has been no reported case of polio in Edo State. I like
to claim that credit because our people need to know that when the past
government was here, we had polio, and under this new government, we have no
polio.”
Oshiomhole declared, “I want to join those who have spoken
to appeal to our mothers and indeed the fathers to ensure that they do
everything possible to take advantage of this exercise, to make it a habit once
the baby is born, at the appropriate time, they should ensure the child is
immunized so that we can prevent vaccine-preventable diseases.”
He assured, “We will continue to sustain our commitment to
providing certain levels of free medical care to our young ones up to the age
of 5. We are committed to that because the future of our country demands that
we have healthy citizens, and whether we are building schools or roads or
hospital, we need children who will grow up to be adults to benefit from those
infrastructure that we are developing. Who knows, one of these children may
grow up to become the future governor or the wife of the future governor. So it
is important that we look after them.”
Speaking earlier, the State Commissioner for Health, Dr. Aihanuwa
Eregie who welcomed Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his wife Mrs. Iara Oshiomhole
as well as other development partners to the ceremony said, “It is the first
round of the National Immunization Plus Days (NIPDs) scheduled for this year
and it is put in place to enhance the survival of our children.
“May I inform the Governor that the National Immunization
Plus Days (NIPDs) is intended to consolidate on the gains so far
made in our collective drive to eradicate polio. In the last NIPDs held in
2015, the State recorded 93% oral polio coverage and so far this year, we have
achieved 83% coverage for routine immunization. It is also on record that the
country has not recorded any case of the wild polio virus since July, 2014, and
Nigeria has since been removed from the list of countries endemic for polio.
While this is cheering, we must remain alert so that Nigeria achieves the polio
free certification. Therefore, during this exercise, more attention would be
focused on the missed children in the community so as to ensure that no child
is left unimmunized.”
She said, “I am using this opportunity to appeal to our
parents, caregivers and mothers to embrace this programme by ensuring that all
children aged 0 – 59 months old are immunized. This is because the continuous
increase in the number of unimmunized children will predispose the LGAs and
States to outbreak of vaccine preventable diseases. This is why during this
exercise, vaccinators would move from house to house to administer Oral Polio
Vaccine (OPV) to children. All health centres would be open to give the other
antigens to the children.”
The highpoint of the ceremony was the administering of polio
vaccines on babies by Governor Adams Oshiomhole and his wife, Mrs. Iara
Oshiomhole.
Immunise Babies to Secure Future, Oshiomhole Appeals To Parents in Edo
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Yes the man is really doing the work,we need to get our kids immunised to free them from the childhood killer diseases
ReplyDeleteParents should try allow teir kids immunize so they can be prevented from childhood diseases...they should listen to their Governor and work with the health workers is important that is the same thing we are doing in osun state here
ReplyDeleteD man is rili trying
ReplyDeleteIt up to parents na to take there childrn for imunisation na.. Tanx to Comrade Governor
ReplyDeleteYeah it's up to patents to adhere to this. It is said a word is enough for the wise.
ReplyDelete