All stakeholders should do more to improve the coverage level of childhood immunisation
It is heartwarming that Northern traditional rulers have joined the efforts for stronger community engagement and improved immunisation coverage on the circulating variants of the poliovirus in parts of the region. At the quarterly review meeting of the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee (NTLC) on Primary Health Care (PHC) delivery held in Abuja. Organised by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare in collaboration with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the meeting brought together critical stakeholders in the sector to review progress on routine immunisation, maternal healthcare, and community health interventions. “No nation can prosper when mothers and children continue to die from preventable causes,” said the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate.
The United States Centre for Disease Control (USCDC) once warned that Nigeria risks an outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases. According to the centre which advocated urgent action to close the wide immunisation gap, Nigeria accounts for the highest-burden of unsaturated children globally, with 2.3 million zero-dose children. These are children who are yet to receive the first dose of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine. Perhaps more disturbing is that on the number of children at the risk of death and vaccine-preventable diseases, Nigeria is second only to India.
