The commissioner for health Cross River State, Dr Henry Egbe Ayuk PhD has stated that the ministry will continue to support partners, individuals and communities in eradication of POLIO, immunization and other related health responsibility in the state.
The commissioner Said this during a courtesy call to his office by members of the World health Organization (WHO) to brief him on development concerning their activities for about six months within the state.
In his presentation, the team lead Dr Abrahim Salisu commented this:
“As you may be aware,WHO has been working with the Cross-State Ministry of Health and Primary Health Care Development Agency to strengthen AFP Surveillance and Routine Immunization Systems in line with the Polio Eradication Strategy.The Cross River government, in collaboration with WHO and partners, jointly carried out a series of interventions- including capacity building for Surveillance actors, provision of data tools, supporting case detection, sample transportation and testing, Laboratory support, etc., and we have conducted many rounds of Polio Vaccination Campaigns, OBRA and Supplemental Immunization Activities (SIAs) to eliminate the risk of Polio transmission.”
He futher disclosed that”WHO supported the deployment of international teams to Nigeria and Cross River state to evaluate the quality and robustness of the Polio Outbreak Response interventions that were carried out in Cross River. The team will be in Cross River for six (6) days, and so far, it has visited some LGAs. We want to see and assess where we are and what we need to improve. We must ensure that the government, partners, and communities do not relax, as we just concluded another round of the OBRA campaign this September.If you look at the Surveillance and RI indicators in the zone, Cross River state is doing well.But Cross River state also has some peculiarities,in the sense that it has a long international border. There are many border communities, riverine communities,hard-to-reachcommunities,and refugee populations in some LGAs.So we must assess inter-border activities and collaborations for AFP Surveillance and RI systems, to remain effective”
Responding to the above and other issues,Dr Ayuk stated the ministry commitment and continual support to the the organization, while charging them to put more effort in service delivery.
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