Sure, let’s put this in simpler words:
The United Nations Children’s Fund, known as UNICEF, is worried that about 22,000 children in Bauchi State have not gotten their regular shots to keep them healthy.
Because of this, there have been cases of a type of polio called vaccine-derived polio getting spread. In 2024, Bauchi had four of these cases, out of a total of 73 in all of Nigeria.
Nuzhat Rafique from UNICEF shared this information during a special walk event held on World Polio Day.
She said that polio could be stopped in Bauchi, in Nigeria, and worldwide if everyone works hard together. Polio can make people sick forever or even lead to death, but we can stop it if every child gets their shots.
Nuzhat was sad because still many kids are not getting their shots.
She said, “Around the world, fewer kids are getting their important vaccines, and this is making polio come back even in places where we hadn’t seen it for many years.”
“Fighting polio is really hard, especially in places where it’s tough to reach people, but we can do it. UNICEF helps by giving out more than a billion polio vaccines every year, making it the biggest helper in getting vaccines to everyone,” she explained.
Nuzhat asked the government to make polio shots a top priority, especially in places that are hard to reach and where not many kids are getting shots.
“We need to make our vaccine systems strong so every child gets the important vaccines. The government should give the needed help and money to stop outbreaks fast and make sure kids get their vaccines,” she said.
“Keep making fighting polio an important job for the country while finding new solutions and working together to improve how we do vaccine campaigns,” Nuzhat added.
She also asked the leaders in Bauchi to help tell parents and caregivers to make sure their children get their vaccines and to solve any problems when people don’t follow the vaccine rules during and after the campaigns.