This week, more than 138,000 vaccinators will fan out across five African countries in the Lake Chad area in a push to eliminate polio in Africa and rid the world of this terrible disease forever.

They will take boats across fast-flowing rivers, ride jeeps along sandy ravines, walk crowded street in towns and cities and navigate cramped quarters of refugee camps to ensure that every child is immunized. Traveling for hours a day, these dedicated women and men will visit children in homes, schools, train stations, and transit points across Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic.

The Lagos State Government on Tuesday said that plans were in progress to start its compulsory Health Insurance Scheme for all residents to ensure adequate healthcare services.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris, who made the assertion during the “Mamaye Day’’ celebration at Ikeja, said that the scheme would enrol a family of six with the premium paid in monthly instalments.

As of April 17 2017, there had been over 8000 reported cases of Meningitis in Nigeria, and nearly 800 deaths, and it’s not slowing down yet. The first case of the disease was first reported in Zamfara state in November 2016. By February 2017, it had become more widespread in the Northwest and Northcentral zones in Nigeria and was declared an epidemic in six states Katsina, Kebbi, Zamfara, Niger, Sokoto and Yobe.

Meningitis is an inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, usually caused by bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infection of the surrounding fluid. Viral and Bacterial meningitis are contagious and can usually be transmitted by overcrowding, coughing, sneezing and close contact. Epidemic meningitis is most often caused by the bacteria known as Neisseria Meningitidies. It has different strains but Serotype C accounts for about 80% of the Nigerian outbreak.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has donated 850,000 doses of vaccines to Sokoto State government to tackle Cerebrospinal Meningitis in the state.

Mohammad Mohiuddin, UNICEF chief, Sokoto Zonal Office, made the disclosure on Wednesday in Sokoto at a sensitisation meeting for media practitioners, religious and traditional leaders, as well as other stakeholders.

As stated by the Minister of Health, Prof Isaac Adewole, one of the cardinal programmes of President Mohammadu Buhari’s administration is to engage in massive revitalization of Primary Healthcare Centers (PHCs) in Nigeria in order to ensure that quality basic health services is delivered to Nigerian masses irrespective of their location in the country.

He also revealed that the government’s intention is to focus on providing health services to the over 70 percent of Nigerians living in the rural areas including the vulnerable such as women, children under five years of age and the elderly.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday unveiled a new malaria vaccine called RTS,S that will be piloted in Kenya, Ghana and Malawi next year to gauge its efficacy and safety.

The WHO Regional Director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti, said the launch of the malaria vaccine, developed after years of painstaking research, marked a critical milestone in the fight against the tropical disease.