The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) will do everything possible to strengthen the entire routine immunisation structure and primary health care landscape in the FCT.
The FCT Minister of State, Dr Ramatu Aliyu gave the assurance at the first meeting of the FCT Taskforce on Polio Eradication Initiative and Routine Immunisation for the year 2022, on Thursday in Abuja.
Aliyu, who said that the aim of the meeting was to discuss and strategise on matters of routine immunisation activities, reiterated total commitment of the administration to the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari to polio eradication in the country.
Represented by her Senior Special Assistant on Administration, Prof. Muhammad Usman, the minister said that through the Basic Health Care Provision Fund, the FCT dministration was already rehabilitating the Primary Health Care infrastructure.
Aliyu also revealed that the administration was engaging additional health workers and providing essential medicines to further strengthen the primary health care sector.
She said that the efforts of the taskforce had contributed significantly to the success of polio campaigns in the territory with no wild Polio Virus confirmed in FCT for over seven years.
The minister, who called for regular meetings of the taskforce, called on chairmen of the six area councils in FCT to strengthen commitments to the polio eradication and routine immunisation activities in their various councils.
She also emphasised the need for regular release of counterpart funds and personal attendance at all meetings of the FCT Task Force on Polio Eradication Initiative and Routine Immunisation.
Earlier, the Mandate Secretary for FCT Health and Human Services, Dr Abubakar Tafida, revealed that the secretariat would deploy 1,639 teams in four days from Jan. 22 to vaccinate over one million children under five in 2,837 communities across the territory.
Tafida enjoined participants to identify numerous challenges facing immunisation landscape at the FCT area council and community levels with a view to finding solutions to those challenges.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in 2015, President Buhari signed the reviewed Abuja Commitments document on behalf of the Federation.
While the Chairman, Governors’ Forum signed on behalf of the 36 state governors and the Minister of FCT to ensure a Polio free nation with clear responsibilities for each tier of government. (NAN)
