The Kwara State Government, in partnership with UNICEF, is set to conduct a state-wide integrated health campaign during Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW), HPV vaccination and routine immunization, targeting 200,000 pregnant women and 800,000 girls aged nine years and above.
Speaking during a sensitization workshop for media officials in Ilorin on Friday, the Executive Secretary of the state Primary Health Care Development Agency, Professor Nusirat Elelu, said the programme, which will run from November 29 to December 3, 2025 in all the 16 local government areas of the state, was aimed at improving access to essential health services for women and children.
Represented by the Director of Primary Health Care Systems, Dr. Michael Oguntoye, Elelu said the targeted population would receive life-saving interventions such as deworming, vitamin A supplementation and other nutrition-sensitive services.
He also said the campaign is designed to promote preventative healthcare and reduce mortality rates among vulnerable populations.
Also speaking, Dr. Ahmed Tsofo, Health Specialist at UNICEF Kaduna Field Office, thanked the state government for funding and implementing health programmes, ensuring UNICEF’s continued support.
Tsofo, who said the anti-polio campaign will be carried out in 21 states in the country, including Kwara State, at a later date, added that the HPV vaccine is targeting girls aged 9 years and above, “particularly those who were not reached during the previous campaign.”
In his goodwill address, Oluwaseun Oladoye, on behalf of Corona Management Systems, said immunization protects children from preventable diseases, one of which is polio.
“These vaccines help build immunity and prevent the spread of these diseases in our community, ensuring that children grow up healthy and strong. Polio mainly affects children under five years of age, and one in 200 infections causes irreversible paralysis. Between 5 and 10% die when their respiratory muscles become immobilized.
“We must understand that as long as a single child remains infected, other children in our community and the country at large are at risk of contracting polio. Therefore, this dialogue with the media became imperative in our bid to totally eradicate polio. We ask you, as agents of change, to spread the news of this campaign as widely as possible so that it reaches every home in Kwara State and beyond.”
The State Coordinator of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Emmanuel Eyitayo, represented by the agency’s Public Health Officer, Dr. Gwomson Dauda, stated that despite the successes recorded in integrated polio, measles and primary health care interventions, some challenges still exist.
He noted that insecurity in some local government areas had hindered health workers’ access to certain communities.
Eyitayo called for enhanced security measures to ensure that no child or mother is left behind.