2023 World Immunization Week: SCI urges incoming government to prioritise health sector

Child rights organization, Save the Children International (SCI) has called on the incoming government in Nigeria to prioritise the healthcare sector in their administration.

SCI made the call at a dialogue session with immunization stakeholders, to mark the 2023 World Immunization Week.

World Immunization Week, according to World Health Organization (WHO), commemorated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from vaccine-preventable diseases.

The 2023 celebration with the theme “The big catch-up” kicked off on April 24 and will run through April 30.

Speaking, the Advocacy Campaign and Policy Manager for Save the Children International, Ifedilichukwu Ekene Innocent stressed the need for an improved budget for the health sector at all level of governance in the country.

According to him, vaccination must be at the front burner of every government passionate about the health of its citizens.

He said “The new government as they come in at federal, state and local government, should realise that health is wealth. They should ensure that they budget properly. And what we mean by budgeting properly is using evidence to budget. You know, when you don’t budget with evidence, there will be a lot of mistakes.

For instance, we need to use data to be able to procure the vaccines. Until we do that, it will be difficult for us to say that we are making progress as a country.

“We want the incoming government at various levels to commit to this, resolve logistic challenges and reduce the number of zero dose children that are spread all over the country”.

Ifedilichukwu also called for necessary funding that will address logistics and cold chain issues. He further stressed the need for training of healthcare personnel for effective service delivery.

“Government should be able to ensure that funding is available, logistics and challenges are sorted out, cold chain challenges are sorted out and health workers are properly trained to administer these vaccines.

“When these vaccines come in, they need to be kept in a proper and conducive environment so that they maintain the quality of the vaccine. We are using this opportunity as an organisation to plead with the federal government to ensure that the cold chain equipments all over the country are properly maintained.

“let’s begin to talk about solar power and facilities so that fridges and all these cold chains that are used for storing these vaccines are constantly on normal temperature as prescribed by relevant agencies”, he added.

Director General of West African Institute of Public Health, Dr Francis Ohanyido said, it is very important for Nigeria as a country to fund vaccination.

He stressed the need for accountability and transparency in the utilization of these funds and advised stakeholders and Non Governmental Organisations to track health budget and ensure that funds are used for the exact purpose designated.

On his part, Chief Executive Officer, Talkhealthnja, Dr Laz Eze called for the production of local vaccines, stating that this will improve vaccines coverage in the country.

“It is long overdue for Nigeria to revive local vaccines production. Over thirty years ago we were producing yellow fever vaccines and we have a facility in Lagos, Yaba specifically.

“We need much more research, create an enabling environment for the pharmaceutical companies to begin to do this. We have more than 100 pharmaceutical companies in Nigeria.

“Vaccine production in Nigeria is not just a health issue, it is an economy issue.

“It is extremely important that the new government prioritises local vaccines production, do whatever is necessary to make sure this happens.

“The WHO has already designated Nigeria as a hub within the West Africa sub-region with four other countries on local vaccine production”, he added.

Representative from the Federal Ministry of Health, Dr Omokore Oluseyi noted that the low percentage of vaccination coverage is due to inadequate sensitisation and enlightenment. He said education of parents and care givers will offer better results.