Read reasons WHO ranked Nigeria low in immunization

Nigeria is yet to introduce the new measles-containing vaccine (MCV2) for eliminating measles as recommended by WHO. Nigeria was expected to have included this vaccine into her immunization routine.

Countries like Ghana, Gambia, Rwanda were rated top best performing countries in Africa.

It’s disheartening to know that Nigeria wasn’t listed among the top 10 best performing countries in Africa by WHO at the ministerial conference on immunization held in Addis Ababa earlier this month.

What made the situation more pathetic was the fact that Nigeria, often regarded as the Giant of Africa had an unimpressive record in the routine immunization conference. Countries like Ghana, Gambia, Morocco, Rwanda, Seychelles and Tanzania had better ratings than the much prided nation.  Not only is this highly ridiculing, it is also unnerving to know that the country still falls amongst some nations still being preyed upon by the endemic neonatal tetanus.

Nigeria’s failure to introduce the MCV2 vaccine into her routine for immunization was absurd as measles causes 42% of global deaths according to the reports. Measles, being a highly infectious virus requires more than two doses of the measles-containing vaccine (MCV) administered through routine immunization. And in spite of WHO’s recommendation, only 48% which is less than half of the African countries have worked the MCV2 into their immunization routine.  Although there is an increase in Routine Immunization coverage according to the reports, it has however led to the decline of deaths caused by measles in Africa.

The continent has recorded tremendous success in immunization as a result of the improved vaccines introduced to some countries. Depressingly, Nigeria didn’t feature among the countries that have introduced the new vaccines, thus scoring below the other countries in DTP3 Coverage and Vaccine Introduction. Moreover, some children don’t even receive the basic vaccines they need to ward off critical diseases like measles, neonatal tetanus and rubella.

The conference was hosted by WHO Regional Offices for Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) alongside the African Union Commission (AUC). The conference was the first of its kind as the ministerial gathering made children a focal point of discussion and deliberated on ways of improving access to life saving vaccines.

Immunization has been recognized as one of the most successful and cost effective public health interventions available. Thus, efforts have been made to improve the coverage of vaccines in Africa. However, this intervention is faced with challenges like the eruption of new infections and the on-going fights against Polio.

There’s an improvement in the political will and government funding for immunization in order to increase vaccine coverage. New vaccines for malaria and Ebola are also being put forward. Children are the main target for these vaccines as they would benefit from it throughout their lives.

The ministers present declared and committed themselves to reducing child mortality by keeping universal access to immunization, increasing and sustaining domestic investments and funding allocations to meet the cost of traditional vaccines. They also pledged to address the persistent barriers in the nation’s vaccine and healthcare delivery systems especially in the poor and marginalized communities. They also agreed on increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the immunization delivery systems. Conclusively, they plan to monitor their progress towards achieving the goals of the global and regional immunization plans.

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