Health
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THE United Nation Children Fund, UNICEF, has expressed concern that lack of funds is hampering its efforts in the fight to rid Nigeria of polio virus. Besides, the United Nations, UN, agency said the lack of access to the children was also posing problem to them.
UNICEF announced that it was targeting 41 million children for vaccine immunisation against polio across Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin. The renewed effort is aimed at halting the recent outbreak of the disease in the Northeast.
Nigeria had a clean record for about two years before the recent outbreak. In a statement issued by the Regional Office in Dakar on the region-wide vaccination campaign in response to the polio outbreak in northeast Nigeria, UNICEF stated that populations fleeing the troubled zone are on the rise within the sub-region, raising concerns that the virus could spread across borders.
Consequently, it said nearly 39,000 health workers are deployed across Nigeria and neighbouring Chad, Niger, Cameroon and the Central African Republic to deliver polio vaccines in areas at high-risk for the virus during five rounds of coordinated vaccination campaigns across five countries.
In a press statement in Abuja yesterday, UNICEF stated that it is procuring the vaccines and engaging the public through mass media and grassroots mobilisation. “The re-emergence of polio after two years with no recorded cases is a huge concern in an area that’s already in crisis.” said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. – The Nation
— Oct 12, 2016 @ 18:45 GMT
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