Executive director, FCT Primary Health Care Board, Dr. Rilwanu Mohammed, has disclosed that only one case of polio was recorded in the FCT in 2010 and that no case has been reported this year, a clear indication that the FCT was winning the war against polio disease.
This is even as he stated that Nigeria has been able to achieve 90 per cent success in its fight against polio, adding that only 5 per cent cases were still being recorded nationwide.
Mohammed stated this at the flag-off of the 2011 Immunisation Plus Day in Abuja for under-5-years-old children, held at the Wuse District Hospital, during the weekend.
The director urged residents of the FCT to avail themselves of the opportunity to vaccinate their children, noting that the exercise had the blessings of traditional rulers in the FCT who had certified the vaccine unharmful.
He reiterated the determination of the FCT administration to eradicate polio completely, saying it would not rest on its oars until this was achieved.
In her address, wife of the FCT minister, Hajiya Aisha Bala Mohammed, called on parents to make their children available for the exercise.
She noted that the exercise would help accelerate the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal (MDGs) goal 4, on reduction of the child mortality rate.
Mohammed, who stressed the importance of the exercise said, “I feel very pained as a woman and mother when children are not provided with the opportunity of receiving simple, life saving but cost effective interventions.
“It is for the sake of all the children of the FCT that I appeal to all mothers, caregivers and all children to take advantage of this great opportunity to be vaccinated against preventable diseases.”
In their separate goodwill messages, the emir of Jiwa, Alhaji Idris Musa and the president of Polio Victims Association of Nigeria, Muzbahu Lawan Didi, urged parents to embrace the prevention option by bringing out their children for the immunisation exercise.
The exercise, which commenced on Saturday, is expected to be concluded tomorrow. ? ?