Bayelsa dep gov Ewhrudjakpo, tasks religious leaders on immunization drive
By Aherhoke Okioma
The Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, on Wednesday, called on religious leaders in the state to educate their members on the health imperative of allowing their children and wards to receive immunization, saying it was safe and beneficial to their health.
He made the call at a meeting of the State Taskforce on Immunization in Government House, Yenagoa, on Wednesday, ahead of this weekend’s flag-off of another round of the malaria and HPV immunization programme in the state.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo, in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Mr Doubara Atasi, noted that many parents and guardians erroneously prevent their children and wards from taking immunization on the basis of their religious beliefs.
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According to the Deputy Governor, church beliefs among some segments of the populace had become a stumbling block, preventing some of their adherents from going for regular medical checkups and healthcare.
While lamenting the slide in the state’s latest ranking on immunization among its peers, he stressed the need for the Bayelsa State Taskforce on Immunization to meet more frequently to get reports and feedbacks from the field.
Senator Ewhrudjakpo, who highlighted the importance of traditional birth attendants (TBAs), disclosed that efforts were underway to train them in their various local government areas to make them more useful to the healthcare delivery system of the state.
His words:”I want to talk a little bit to our religious leaders. The cultural beliefs are no longer as resistant to healthcare delivery as the religious beliefs.
“Religious beliefs have overtaken and overshadowed the cultural beliefs; the problem we have had over the years is cultural beliefs.
“Most of our people are refusing to take certain health interventions because of religious beliefs. So our Christian and Muslim religious leaders really need to do a lot by talking to our people.
“Even Jesus Christ gave medicine before healing some set of people like the case of the man born blind where He used paste to heal. There is nowhere God said every case of healing is without medicine.
“So we really want to organize programs on radio for the religious leaders to speak to see how we can undulate this message to our people.
“Immunization is being resisted; other forms of health interventions are resisted in the name of religion which is not right, and we need to discourage that.”
In his contributions, the Commissioner for Health, Prof. Seiyefa Brisibe, emphasized the need for functional local government immunization taskforce and the implementation of the state policy on compulsory immunization of pupils in both private and public schools across the state.
Presenting an updated slide-backed report on the indices of immunization in the State, the Director of Disease Control, Primary Healthcare Board, Dr. Gbanaibolou Orukari, underscored the need for political, religious and community leaders to join in sensitizing the public to embrace immunization.
Representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and other organizations also made valuable contributions at the meeting, which had in attendance the Chairman, Bayelsa State Traditional Rulers Council, King Bubaraye Dakolo, the Executive Secretary, state Primary Healthcare Board, Dr William Appah, among others.
