Worried by the increasing risk of polio resurgence and other related life-threatening conditions in Kano, a humanitarian foundation, CROWN, on Thursday, unveiled a plan to mobilise women volunteers to check the spread.

Besides, CROWN, Community Re-orientation Women Network, had uncovered no fewer than 558 children at Zango community, Ungogo area of Kano, with zero-dose vaccination.

CROWN’s findings may not necessarily be an isolated case, as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in April 2025 declared that nearly 250,000 children in Kano have never received any form of routine immunisation.

Addressing a press conference, CROWN Chairman, Board of Trustees, Zouera Yousouffou, explained that the foundation is galvanising support for community women to drive a door-to-door campaign against the deadly polio disease.

Yousouffou, who is Managing Director, Dangote Foundation, disclosed that the objective of mobilising female volunteers came out of persistent resistance to the polio vaccine, thereby posing a huge life threat to innocent children in Kano.

He stressed that 5,000 volunteers have already been trained across 39 wards of Kano, Sokoto, and Bauchi States to drive campaigns on nutrition, immunisation, hygiene, and birth spacing.

According to her, CROWN’s program, drawing funding from Dangote and Gates foundations, is also stimulating economic empowerment and support to the volunteers in their communities to further strengthen the campaign.

“CROWN is a volunteer-based women’s collective that is committed to advancing human development indices in the most remote areas. Our entry point has been health, but we are consolidating and plan to expand to education and nutrition.

“These women will be supported with economic empowerment schemes that build on the crafts they are interested in, ensuring that this is wrap-around support that empowers the woman and benefits her family.

“We have implemented pilots in a few wards across some states, including Kano, Sokoto, and, of course, Bauchi, where we started. And we have started to see the promise that this holds in improving immunisation uptake, preventing malnutrition, and linking over 190 thousand families to essential health services.” Yousouffou noted.

Violaine Mitchell, Representative of Gates Foundation, said Gates is committed to supporting CROWN’s effort to ramp down on polio with resources into a network of Ambassadors to drive broader community health, nutrition, and education outcomes.

She reminded that CROWN is giving women a voice, elevating them to high levels of community stewardship and influence, and providing opportunities to access services, peer support, and economic empowerment.

On his part, Dr. Uchenna Igbokwe, Chief Executive Officer, Solina Centre for International Development and Research (SciDaR), a technical assistant to CROWN, expressed willingness to upscale support to the women to influence caregivers and empower the skills of the volunteers.

“We are deeply inspired by how the ambassadors continue to support themselves and drive community development. We are also deeply appreciative of our traditional leaders, who continue to champion this effort and ensure that solutions are community-driven and address their unique needs.”