Nigeria: to immunise 87 million kids against polio by December

(AGI) - Lagos 18 aug - Nigeria's Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said Thursday that the Federal Government has begun a robust plan to tackle wild polio in the land, following the outbreak of the disease in Jere and Gwoza areas of Borno State, North East. About 87 million children will be immunised before the end of December, he said. The minister said the plan, which was developed by the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA) and its partners, would not suffer from funding, adding that the Federal Government had released N6.5 billion, while an additional N6.7 billion was being expected. The latest outbreak has dimmed the country's chances of being yanked off the list of polio-burdened countries. Nigeria had done two years without a case of polio and was due for certification in 2017 by the World Health Organisation (WHO) before last week's two cases. The outbreak has been blamed on the Boko Haram insurgency, which made it difficult to reach certain parts of Borno State. According to the minister, 31.5 million children are targeted to be immunised in the North East, while the National Immunisation Programme, which would cover the country, would target 56 million children. (AGI) .