Linda Ayade, Wife of Governor Ben Ayade on Monday said the State Government is targeting no less than nine hundred children across the 18 local government Areas for the second phase of Poliomyelitis.
The first lady said this in Calabar during the official flag-off outbreak response of poliomyelitis in the State held at Bigqua Town Field.
According to her, the exercise is aimed at keeping polio out of Cross River State.
“We do not want any of our children to be deformed, we want a healthy and enterprising State, it’s important for our children to remain healthy” she started.
She urged mothers and parents to take advantage of the exercise by vaccinating their children and be reminded that Covid 19 is also around the corner and be safe.
“We do not want deformity in any of our children, come out and bring your children to ensure that they take the second dose of polio, let us prevent polio in our State”
In remarks the state Commissioner for Health Dr better Edu urged the mother’s in the State to take the opportunity seriously by bringing their children for vaccination.
Edu who was represented by Iwara Iwara said it’s an opportunity to mobilise all the workforce for the campaign and ensure that the State remained the first and Poliomyelitis free.
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Earlier the director-general of Cross River State Primary Health Care Development Authority Janeth Ekpeyong said even though the State is polio-free, but because of reported cases of Poliomyelitis in the neighboring State, the State cannot afford to sleep but to continue with the advocacy of eradicating the disease completely from the State.
She started that the flag-off exercise is to mark the outbreak response in the State.
“Ekpeyong said we have succeeded in eradicating Poliomyelitis in the State, but because of our neighboring State and the challenges in some of our communities, we haven’t recorded any case of type 2 Poliomyelitis in the State” She noted.
In their separate goodwill messages, Chairman House Committee on Health Hon Ekpo Ekpo, Pella Umar of UNICEF, Efraim Chukwu of WHO, and the representative of traditional rulers, all pledged their continued support and partnership to the State Ministry of Health in their efforts to make the State polio-free.
