BY: AISHA AHMED, DUTSE
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), has said that it is time for Nigeria to strengthen its Primary Healthcare system and give Routine Immunization a vital boost.
Mr Micheal Banda, Officer-in-Charge, UNICEF Field Office Kano disclosed this in an interview with our Correspondent at the end of a one-day media orientation organised by UNICEF in Kano.
Banda said, recent traces of circulating virus (cVPV2), though not a wild poliovirus, have highlighted the reality that Nigeria cannot afford to relent in the area of immunization.
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“Not only is polio vaccination crucial, but all routine vaccinations are also critical to children’s survival, so we must all work together to strengthen routine immunization services.
“We must ensure that all children under five, receive all vaccines, including the polio vaccine.
“If all children get vaccinated and receive all the vaccines they need to receive, they will no longer be at risk of contracting polio.” He explained.
Mr Banda stressed that immunization has been proven to be the most cost-effective protection against vaccine-preventable diseases.
He implored all stakeholders to work together, to ensure that every Nigerian child below the age of five is vaccinated, to protect them from all vaccine-preventable diseases.
Banda, further revealed that in 2023, there was an increase in the number of circulating poliovirus (cVPD2) cases across the country.
He stressed that Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Katsina, and Kano, contributed to about 88% (211 of 238) of the total cases.
“As the data showed, in three states of Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina, we have over 556,750 children who have not received one single dose of vaccination they should have received.
“These are referred to as zero-dose children and such children are vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases, including poliomyelitis. This is unacceptable and must be tackled frontally.” He emphasized.
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National Orientation Agency (NOA), with support from the UNICEF Kano field office, organized a one-day Media orientation on Polio on Thursday in Kano.
The orientation meeting was to re-awaken journalists on the need to advocate more on the need for governments to strengthen routine immunization in Nigeria.
The orientation meeting attracted about 30 journalists from Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina states respectively.