Ondo State governor, Dr Olusegun Mimiko, has solicited the support and cooperation of all stakeholders in the health sector, including religious and community leaders, to completely eradicate polio in the country.

Mimiko, who stated this on Saturday, in Akure, during the kick-off of the third round of sensitisation on Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI), stressed the importance of polio eradication, especially as the nation was working towards its certification as a polio-free country.

Declaring open the campaign entitled, “Community Leaders Against Polio,” organised as part of a nationwide campaign initiated by the Governors Forum, the governor said that his administration would not relent in its efforts at providing qualitative health care to the people of the state.

Mimiko said that the administration had already introduced free health programmes for children under five years and pregnant women in the state.

The governor also disclosed that an ultramodern cold chain store in Akure would soon be ready for inauguration, adding that the state government had acquired 100 tricycle ambulances meant to enhance immunisation activities and mobilise the people for the exercise to ensure total coverage.

Dr Mimiko, who affirmed that no case of polio had been recorded in the state since the inception of his administration, commended the efforts of state governors in 2010, with the reduction of polio cases in the country from 338 in 2009 to 21 in 2010.

He said: “You will agree with me that the role of community leaders in mobilising their subjects for the eradication of polio in the state cannot be over emphasised. Many of our community leaders have been engaged in polio eradication activities in the country. The purpose of today’s sensitisation is, therefore, to ensure continued community participation and involvement in polio eradication initiatives.”

The governor said his administration would not relent in its effort to provide qualitative health care delivery to the people of the state through planned programmes.

The state Commissioner for Health, Dr Dayo Adeyanju, urged parents to always make their children available for immunisation and not to wait until immunisation days alone.

The commissioner also added that the present administration had provided all the logistic supports needed to ensure a polio-free state.

Present at the sensitisation were wife of the state governor, Mrs Olukemi Mimiko and representatives of partner agencies, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF.

Meanwhile, governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has cautioned against complacency as the state attains polio-free status.

The governor, who gave the warning while flagging off the third quarterly polio eradication/sensitisation campaign at the weekend in Ijomi, Ethiope West Local Government area of the state, said that the warning had become necessary as polio-free status did not guarantee an automatic prevention of re-occurrence of the disease.

The incidence of wild polio was last recorded in the state in January 2010 and between then and January this year, no single case of the wild polio was recorded, thereby qualifying the state to be declared a polio-free state.

Dr Uduaghan, who said this was not an excuse to relax, promised that the government would do everything possible to sustain the state’s polio-free status.

Accordingly, he charged health care givers to be more vigilant and diligent to be able to sustain the state’s onslaught against polio and other deadly childhood diseases.

The governor, who disclosed that the campaign was the initiative of the Governors’ Forum, identified dirty environment as a major contributor to the spread of the disease, advised that the environment should always be kept clean.

He called for vigilance by stakeholders, particularly as the nation had witnessed mass movement of people in recent times and advised health care givers to carry out regular immunisation of children.

Uduaghan appealed to fathers to complement the efforts of mothers in immunising their children, and he commended all partnering agencies for their support.

He said that the government had strengthened the Neonatology Department of Delta State University Teaching Hospital, Oghara, to reduce infant mortality and appealed to mothers to take advantage of the health care facilities.

In a goowill message, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Ado Mohammed, commended Governor Uduaghan for sustaining Delta State polio-free record.

However, he appealed to the government to provide more ambulances to the riverine communities and scale up incentives for midwives deployed to rural areas.

In his address, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Joseph Otumara, appealed to local government councils in the state to increase funding for primary health care centres.

In another development, Governor Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa of Kaduna State has expressed determination to eradicate polio by the end of 2012 in the state, and charged the 23 local government caretaker committee chairmen to strive to resolve all cases of non-compliance and improve immunisation activities in their area.

The governor spoke at the weekend during the launch of the polio-free campaign in Kaduna, saying the council chairmen would be held responsible for continued non-compliance in any part of the state.

Record had shown that Kaduna State was the only state in the North-West geopolitical zone that had not recorded a single case of polio virus since June 2009. But reacting to the issue of non-compliance reported in Kaduna South, Kaduna North, Zaria, Sabon Gari, Soba, Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Lere and Giwa local government areas of the state, the governor said council chairmen in the state should be ready to accept responsibility for any failure of the various interruption efforts against the virus, because their records in this regard would serve as the yardstick for measuring their individual performances in office.