Two polio virus cases have been reported at Mariga and Chanchaga Local Councils of Niger State.
 
Commissioner for Health, Dr Murtala Mohammad Bagana, announced this while speaking to newsmen during a one-day expanded state oversight committee meeting and Abuja commitment in Minna, yesterday.
 
He said: “We knew that this virus was still there because we are surrounded by all the states that still have the virus, such as Kwara, Kogi, and Kebbi, and people from these states are coming into Niger as a result of insecurity. We are doing everything possible to contain the spread.”
 
Bagana lamented that though Niger does not want to have any of the circulating vaccine driving polio around the state, the incident has shown that the state’s surveillance system is very strong, active and can actually detect diseases within the environment, revealing also that the virus had been isolated at the affected local government areas.
 
He lauded the council chairmen for their swift response to prevent further spread.
 
The commissioner maintained that his ministry has the manpower and logistics to mount the necessary response to ensure that, once and for all the state does not encounter the setback again.
 
Chairman of Chanchaga local council, Dr Mustafa Alheri, hinted that the council, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other relevant agencies, has taken a swift move to control the spread of the virus.
 
He appreciated the commissioner, his management team, as well as development partners for intensifying the campaign against polio in the nooks and crannies of Niger.

In faraway Katsina, persistent non-compliance has been identified as a setback hampering the successful conduct of polio immunisation exercises in the state. 

Executive Secretary, State Primary Health Care Agency (SPHCA), Dr Shamsudeen Yahaya, made this known during a mass mobilisation dialogue with journalists and other stakeholders in the state, yesterday. 

Yahaya said the problem was encountered during the polio vaccination exercise in March this year across the state. 

He also identified other challenges to include missed children due to absence or poor follow-up systems, gaps in data reporting and real-time tracking, and the need for stronger community engagement and localised messages.

Despite these challenges, he said the state was able to immunise a total of 2,954,362 children out of a projected three million kids against polio in March this year.