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Targets 4 million children in Katsina
By Agaju Madugba, Katsina
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has rolled out a fresh vaccination project in Nigeria to implement a Measles Rubella (MR) campaign integrated with polio in all 36 states across the country.
According to the Chief of UNICEF Kano Field Office, Rahama Farah, the project will be implemented in two phases, starting from Monday, October 6, 2025, to Friday, February 13, 2026.
Farah spoke on Tuesday, September 23, in Katsina at a media dialogue organised by UNICEF and the Katsina State government on the Integrated Polio Vaccination Campaign.
“Katsina State will implement the Polio Campaign integrated with Measles Rubella from October 6 to 13, 2025,” he said, noting however that, “while we acknowledge the progress made so far, our goal of halting the circulation of the polio virus in Katsina State is yet to be attained.
“Katsina has reported two cases of variant of polio virus from one LGA (Danmusa) in 2025 whereas 17 cases were reported in eight LGAs in 2024 including eight from Batsari LGA.
“It is important to mention that 20 out of 34 LGAs are affected by security issues in the state.
“With only two months remaining towards the agreed date for achieving this goal, UNICEF calls on the Katsina State government to implement the following:
* Ensure the State Task Force Committee on Immunisation and PHC holds regular and timely meetings.
* LGA chairmen should personally oversee the pre- and intra-campaign phases and regularly chair evening review meetings during the campaign.
He said that, “Katsina has been provided with 3,698,500 doses of Novel Oral Polio Vaccines (nOPV2), targeting 2.3 million children under five years of age, who will be vaccinated through Directly Observed Oral Polio Vaccination (DOOPV).
“Also in this campaign a total of 4.8 million children aged 9 months to 14 years will be vaccinated against Rubella Measles.
“A total of 2,253 teams will be deployed to administer the vaccine using fixed and temporary post strategies from October 4 to 13, 2025.
“A total of 5,584 teams will provide Routine Immunisation services and other antigens from October 6 to 10, 2025 (these teams will include 3,761 teams moving from house-to-house, 993 team in transit/special points, and 830 in fixed post).
“UNICEF has supported the training of 3,300 health workers on improved people skills and the training of 600 Non-Compliance Resolution Teams (NCRTs).
“Two hundred NCRTs, each comprising a community leader, traditional leader, and a vaccinator, will be deployed to resolve non-compliance cases in advance and during the intra-campaign phase on a real-time basis in Katsina.
“Katsina State, with Unicef’s support, has deployed six state facilitators, 21 LGA facilitators, 462 Voluntary Ward Supervisors (VWSs), and 4,647 Voluntary Community Mobilisers (VCMs) to support the October MR campaign.
“Thirty-four LGA chairmen and 70 District Heads have been engaged on polio, and they have signed a declaration in support of immunisation,” Farah said.
Also speaking at the programme, the Executive Secretary, Katsina State Primary Health Care Agency, Dr Shamsuddeen Yahaya, said that, “we have found evidence that Katsina has a lot of cases of Rubella, although it has been underreported, and this is a wonderful opportunity for us to ensure that we protect our children.
“We are also going to use that period to do our normal polio campaign targeting children from zero to 59 months.”
