… Blame burden on insecurity, hard to reach communities

As part of plans to address zero dose burden and improve immunization in the State, Niger State government has disclosed that it will aggressively strengthen interventions in ten Local Government Areas (LGAs) identified to immunise children within the next eight months.

Speaking at the socialization meeting on Republic of Korea (ROK)-United Nations Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF) partnership grant on maintaining and Strengthening Immunization and Essential Services in ten priotized LGAs in the state, the Commissioner for Health Dr Murtala Bagana blamed zero dose burden in the state on insecurity and the number of hard to reach communities.

The Commissioner who was represented by the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Abdullah Imam while commending the UNICEF, and the Republic of Korea for the grant, urged the ten LGAs of Bida, Chanchaga, Edati, Gurara, Katcha , Kontagora, Mariga, Rafi, Suleja and Wushishi to ensure ownership so they can strengthen both routine immunization and outreaches at facilities and in communities.

According to him “as a state, we are doing everything possible to ensure insecurity is curbed. We can all see the negative impact of insecurity, everybody is worried.

“It is not enough to plan for zero dose. We should plan so that there will be no zero dose because every child that is not immunized is exposed and it is a risk to other children.”

He then added that the Ministry of Health is committed to making sure the grant is well utilised and the programme ends successfully.

In his remarks, the Executive Director, Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Inuwa Junaidu explained that the state is positioned in such a way that there are a lot of challenges faced which include banditry and insecurity especially surrounded by Zamfara, Kebbi, Kogi and Kaduna states. “All we need to do now, is to prioritize”, he said.

Accordingly, Junaidu disclosed that “We did a quick appraisal to identify LGAs that have contributed to the burden of zero-dose.

“So, with support from the Korean government and the UNICEF we are trying to implement to ensure that all zero-doses are identified and then vaccinated within the eight months period”.

He then said “we will, identify, enumerate, vaccinate and to ensure that the burden of zero dose is reduced to the barest minimum in Niger State.

In his goodwill message, the UNICEF representative, Health Specialist from the Kaduna Field Office, Dr. Ahmed Tsofo disclosed that, to actualise the implementation of the program, it will rely on the strong existing partnership with the state, saying “UNICEF will stand with you shoulder to shoulder to ensure that we do our best so that this project succeeds.”

He however disclosed that “Nigeria has the highest burden of zero dose globally of 2.1 million with Six states of Adamawa, Bauchi, FCT, Lagos Niger and Ogun identified. And some of these children are in Niger state and in these 10 LGAs.

“The coverage gap the persistently outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases like diphtheria, measles, cholera are the reasons for this support. But the insecurity challenge has been hindering us from reaching children.