Polio immunisation through active case search

Nigeria was the last polio-endemic country in Africa and was officially certified free from polio after marking three consecutive years since the last case of wild polio had been identified.

Polio is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, which causes paralysis of the arms and legs but can be prevented by vaccination.

In order to maintain the tempo therefore, government deemed it fit that continuous vaccination becomes even more necessary for children 6-59 months.

This week, across the FCT, there would be an integrated National Immunisation Days Plus Days (NIPDs) and Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW) aimed at reducing deaths, improving women and children health and eradicating polio.

There will be provision for free health facilities like Vitamin A Supplementation for children 6-59 months, deworming of children 12-59 months, routine immunisation, birth registration, family planning services, hand washing demonstration, among others.

The exercise has house-to-house teams, special teams, senior supervisors, monitors and supervisors, from the National Primary Health Care Agency (NPHCA), to be deployed to the field and apart from the house-to-house exercise, team members will go to all the nooks and crannies including churches, markets, mosques, the streets and anywhere children are living.

The beauty of this particular exercise is that, for the first time, there would be a strategy tagged Active Case Search. This involves trained staff to serve as informants including participating in active searches for cases through home visits or social activities in the communities to complement the facility-based surveillance system for the eradication of polio. Diphtheria will also be included in the list of diseases.

In the FCT, about 1,274,417 children and 318,604 pregnant women are targeted in this exercise. Parents, especially mothers, should therefore make their children available for the exercise and seek routine immunization for their children in about 257 primary health care facilities in FCT communities, free of charge.

Dr Yakubu Mohammed is Ag. Executive Secretary, FCT Primary Healthcare Development Board