As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, the Kano State Community of Practice (CoP) has urged mothers and caregivers to prioritize immunization for their children.
The Kano State Community of Practice (CoP) on immunization budget tracking and accountability, a coalition of CSOs and government officials championing the course of children health, under the AFENET/AHBN Zero-Dose Learning Hub project
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This call to action is part of the global theme “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.”
According to CoP, Kano State faces significant challenges in immunization coverage, with only 35.8% of children receiving basic antigens.
“This has resulted to high number of zero-dose and under immunized children”
“The state has fifteen 15 LGAs out of the 100 LGAs that has the highest burden of zero-dose children in Nigeria”
CoP highlighted that, “this high number of zero dose has been associated with recurrent outbreak of preventable childhood killer diseases such as the diphtheria outbreak of 2023, that claimed many lives and consumed huge resources that could have been use for other developmental activities”
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According to the community, studies conducted in the state on barriers to accessing immunization by many partners such as AFENET, McKinsey, dRPC, Save the Children etc, demand side barriers such as ignorant, religious beliefs, perceived adverse effects, financial constraints and poor health seeking behaviors where the major factors contributing to low immunization services utilization.
“This has resulted in a high number of zero-dose and under-immunized children, making the state vulnerable to outbreaks of preventable childhood killer diseases”
The community identified Key Factors Contributing to Low Immunization Rates including,ignorance, religious beliefs, perceived adverse effects, financial constraints, and poor health-seeking behaviors.
“Inadequate Budgetary Allocations and Releases: Insufficient funding for immunization activities”
To address these challenges, the Kano State Community of Practice is working to Promote Awareness by Educating mothers and caregivers on the importance of immunization.
Improve Access through increased access to immunization services, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach areas.
The community noted that, enhancing Budgetary Allocations by Advocate for increased funding for immunization activities.
“By working together, we can increase immunization rates and protect the children of Kano State from preventable childhood killer diseases”