Nigeria: Govt, UNICEF, WHO Plan Better Immunisation Coverage

BY Ben Duru:

Umuahia — Abia State Ministry of Health, UNICEF and the World Bank have marshaled out action plan that will ensure best practices and help in reducing maternal and infant mortality in the area.

According to the consultants of the two international organisations and the Acting Director of Public Health, the on-going Maternal, Newborn Child Health Week in the 17 local government areas has thrown up huge challenges that must be addressed before the next round of the programme.

Some of the areas that require more attention include the birth registration, exclusive breast feeding, hand washing, administering immunisation drugs properly, proper disposal of used items as well as proper documentation among others.

According to Ruth Andrew, UNICEF Consultant in Abia State, the week-long programme is designed to reach children from zero to five years with the overall aim to capture children and their mothers in order to confine child killer diseases to the dustbin of history, adding that from the reports from monitors, efforts must be intensified.

She explained that there is a satisfactory evidence of total coverage of the state, but that such reports that were not in consonance with the best practices will be addressed.

According to her, the state's team will not leave any stone upturned in its efforts to see that all irregularities discovered in the course of the event among the field team are corrected.

In his submission, the World Health Organization consultant in the state, Dr. Sebastian Okwu, said all reports from the field would be thoroughly investigated before any conclusion is made and drew attention to some reports of measles and cholera which were found to be isolated cases.

He urged field officers to liaise constantly with the state's team in order to have firsthand information on the happenings in the communities, stressing that the welfare of mother and child which is the heartbeat of the event is non-negotiable.

Permanent Secretary, Eme Onyekaba, said efforts will be geared in future to ensure that mothers and their children were not kept for too long before receiving attention.

He assured that additional training will be given to the field workers to prevent the lapses observed during the event.

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