JIGAWA State has recorded about 700 per cent increase in its immunisation rate between 2016 to 2021, according to the state director of Primary Health Care (PHC), Shehu Sambo.
Sambo, while speaking during a two-day media dialogue and field trip on ‘Strengthening PHC systems: the United Nations Children’s Fund PHC Memorandum of Understanding in Jigawa State,’ on Wednesday, September 3, noted that the immunisation uptake increased from seven per cent in 2016 to 49 per cent in 2021.
The ICIR reported that misinformation, illiteracy, and lack of proper sensitisation were some of the reasons many people were reluctant to take vaccines in some parts of the country.
The reluctance towards getting vaccinated might have originated from 1996 when some children were reported dead barely one month after receiving Trovafloxacin/Alatrofloxacin and Ceftriaxone, the standard vaccine for meningitis in Kano State.
Speaking on the improvement, Sambo attributed the surge in immunisation rates to several measures implemented by the state government, in partnership with GAVI and UNICEF.
He also noted that one of the strategies adopted in increasing the immunisation uptake is strengthening the task force on PHC through strong leadership and governance.
He stressed that the state intensified outreach to rural and remote areas, and the deployment of mobile vaccination teams, adding that a robust public awareness campaigns have been crucial in encouraging parents to vaccinate their children.
“If you look at the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey that was conducted in 2016, we had a Penta 3 coverage of seven per cent only. So, you can see that as of then, only seven per cent of our children were reached with the Penta 3 vaccine.
“We were working tirelessly, bringing a lot of innovations. We brought in state outreach on immunisation, and health ambassador innovation, among others, including accessing funds from GAVI; when the survey came in 2021, we got a 700 per cent increase from the previous one, and with that, we moved from seven per cent to 49 per cent.
“We thought we would reach 70 or 80 per cent but a 700 per cent increase is unheard of in Jigawa. We never had double-digit immunisation coverage, not until we had all the funding coming from the state,” he said.
He explained that the Primary Healthcare Centre strengthening programme was funded by Gavi and implemented by UNICEF.
According to him, the programme was a result of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2022 between the Jigawa State Government, the federal ministry of health, the Nigeria Governors Forum (,NGF) GAVI, and UNICEF to improve routine immunization and primary healthcare systems and reduce loss of life, particularly among women and children.
N2bn spent on strengthening of PHC last year
On his part, the chief of health at UNICEF Nigeria, Eduardo Celades, a medical doctor, disclosed that the organisation has invested a significant amount of about N2bn on strengthening of PHC in Jigawa state in 2023.
Celades stated, “We have been investing a lot in Jigawa, significant amounts of resources, about N2bn for last year, to support the efforts of the government in strengthening PHC. We are seeing the results. This year, 20,000 additional people are getting health insurance in Jigawa.
“We are seeing how the immunisation coverage has increased, and we are trying to improve the data. We are seeing how the percentage of women accessing SBA has increased from 20 per cent to almost 50 per cent.”
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M