Umar Akilu Majeri
His Royal Highness the Emir of Ringim, Alhaji Dr. Sayyadi Abubakar Muhammad has vowed to join hands with partners and government to fight against Hepatitis disease in his emirate and Jigawa state in general
The Emir stated this when “Hepatitis Zero Team paid him an advocacy visit to his palace today.
He said, all hands must be on deck to fight Hepatitis and other diseases killing children and adults.
According to the emir, “the campaign against Hepatitis and any other diseases is one of the duties bound of the emirate;” he promised to mobilize all his village heads and, District heads to continue promoting full vaccination of child and other measures that will enhance public health.
Speaking at the emir palace, the leader of the team who is also the Commissioner for Hepatitis Zero in the North-West region, Hajiya Hauwa Abbas told the Emir that the visit is aimed at soliciting the emirate support to encourage women and parents to ensure that their newborn babies are given the vaccine at birth, at 8 weeks and 12 weeks after birth respectively.
They also called on the emirate to encourage youth and adults to get tested for the disease for timely medical treatment to avoid unnecessary death.
The Team had equally paid a similar visit to the Jigawa state Ministry of health where they were received by Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr. Salisu Muazu Babura at his office
The Group called on the Jigawa state government to improved uptake for infant immunization for Hepatitis B in addition to making efforts to provide accessibility for adult immunization for Hepatitis B.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Salisu Muazu described the visit as a timely visit particularly as at the moment, there’s no project being implemented in the state that covers Hepatitis.
“The Hepatitis Zero project came at the right time because there was a vacuum which is now taken over by Hepatitis Zero project”
He restated that the State does not have a program for Adult vaccination against hepatitis B; because it is capital intensive and these are the key areas the Ministry would look out for and partner with the Commission.
He then urged Hepatitis Zero to present all relevant documents before the Ministry so that they can sign a Memorandum of understanding to ensure that the project gets covered under the law and appropriate guidelines with regards to Hepatitis Zero activities in the state.
