Zamfara governor’s wife, Huriyya Lawal, has appointed the wives of the 14 local government chairmen as “Mama Ambassadors,” assigning them to champion community-based advocacy to improve child immunisation across the state.
Inaugurating the ambassadors on Friday, Mrs Lawal said the chairmen’s wives would take immunisation awareness to every community, reminding mothers to vaccinate their children, attend antenatal services, and maintain regular contact with health facilities for essential care.
She assured mothers that vaccines provided at health centres were safe, widely used globally, and effective in preventing deadly childhood illnesses, including measles, polio, diphtheria, and tetanus, urging families to embrace routine immunisation services.
Mrs Lawal noted improvements in Zamfara’s healthcare indicators as more mothers accessed primary healthcare centres and more babies received vaccines, hailing midwives and nurses for tirelessly reaching households, even in remote and hard-to-reach communities.
The governor’s wife urged continued vigilance, stressing that many children remained unvaccinated and vulnerable.
She said zero-dose cases represented real babies in villages, requiring informed mothers and sustained community engagement to ensure full protection.
Mrs Lawal explained that launching the campaign and inaugurating “Mama Ambassadors” formed part of efforts to reach every child, describing the role as a mission to protect life and spread accurate information on essential immunisation practices.
She said the decoration of ambassadors symbolised a sacred responsibility, noting they would serve as the hands and voices of the campaign, championing awareness and encouraging safer health practices among women in their communities.
The executive secretary of the State Primary Healthcare Board, Hussaini Anka, said several lifesaving programmes had been implemented in the past eleven months, significantly reducing vaccine-preventable diseases among pregnant women and children in rural communities.
Mr Anka emphasised that quality healthcare delivery began at the primary level and called for stronger collaboration among government, traditional institutions, and community leaders to improve immunisation uptake and strengthen public health outcomes statewide.
He added that low vaccine acceptance remained a major challenge, prompting the governors’ forum and development partners to introduce community-focused strategies designed to increase awareness, build trust, and encourage households to fully participate in immunisation campaigns.
(NAN)