African Vaccination Week: Stakeholders drum support for immunisation
NAN-H-67
Vaccination
By Lucy Nwachukwu Abuja, April 27, 2017 (NAN) Women Advocates for Vaccine Access (WAVA), an NGO, has called on the public to support immunisation programmes to make vaccines work effectively for people.
WAVA is a coalition of reputable women groups working together to advocate for better access to vaccines and raise a voice for sustainable immunisation financing in Nigeria.
Dr Chizoba Wonodi, the National Convener of WAVA, made the call for immunisation support in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
According to Wonodi, the advocates made the call at the 2017 African Vaccination Week (AVW) in Abuja.
She, however, urged everyone to become a vaccine advocate and contribute towards increased demand for vaccination awareness and sustainable vaccine financing in Nigeria.
The statement quoted Mrs Toyin Ojora-Saraki, Wife of Nigerian Senate President and Founder-President of Wellbeing Foundation Africa, as saying that “vaccines protect us from many deadly diseases’’.
“An example is the role of Meningitis vaccine in the reactive vaccination programme of government to control meningitis outbreak that affected more than 8,000 Nigerians in 23 States and killed over 700 persons.
Ojora-Saraki called on the public and government at all level to contribute their quota towards increased demand for vaccination and sustained funding of the immunisation programme.
She said this was important especially now that Nigeria had begun a gradual transition out of Gavi support.
She said: “As a champion of vaccines, I must emphasise the vital need for mothers and healthcare workers primarily midwives, to track, record and give immunisations to mothers and their newborns.
“This is the solution for vaccinations to work for everyone from birth to age.”
The statement added that Hajiya Kulchumi Hammanyero of the World Health Organisation said: “The 2017 AVW is emphasising on vaccines and we are focusing on the youth in a systematic way.
“Immunisation is one of the most powerful and cost-effective of all health interventions, after clean water.
“Achieving high immunisation coverage is important, as this reduces transmission, with a potential to protect the unvaccinated population in any community.’’
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that AVW is an annual event that provides an opportunity for countries and partners to strengthen their national immunisation programmes.
This is usually done through advocacy, communication and health education, greater service delivery and other activities.
The theme of this year’s AVW is: “Vaccines protect everyone, get vaccinated’’. (NAN)
LCN/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola