Lagos Begins Immunization Plus Today

As another round of the Sub-National Immunization Plus Days (SNIP) begins in Lagos State today, the state government has urged all parents and care givers in the state to ensure that all children aged between 0 and five years receive polio vaccine irrespective of their previous immunization status as the service is free and the vaccine is safe and effective. It also restated its commitment to seriously address the various challenges that have beset routine immunization and supplemental immunization activities in the state which has made the attainment of a polio free state difficult. The State Commissioner for Health, Dr Jide Idris who stated this in Lagos recently explained that the health of children in Lagos State remains crucial to the state government adding that the health of children has continued to attract world attention so much so that an important and key Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is the reduction of under-5 mortality (MDG 4).  Idris noted that child survival interventions especially immunization, apart from constituting part of the rights of the child, have been widely acknowledged as a veritable strategy towards achieving this laudable goal hence the National Immunization Plus Days are special days set aside to immunize children 0-59 months.   He said that the various challenges that have beset routine immunization and supplemental immunization activities include inadequate accessibility evidenced by existence of a large number of communities underserved with routine immunization services due to few and dilapidated Primary Health Centres across the State; poor utilization of available services; poor social mobilization even for outreach services among others, are all being addressed.   "Low political commitment on the part of some local government leadership and resultant lack of ownership; poor social mobilization by the local government area authorities; pockets of non-compliance and rejection of Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) in the State; inadequate involvement of all stakeholders especially traditional and religious leaders as well as influential people in the communities in many local government areas; and political interference in team selection leading to inappropriate and untrained personnel as vaccinators at the ward level are some of the other challenges that are being addressed," he explained.
  Said he, "these challenges are being addressed at the highest levels of government such that the we have now scheduled regular meetings with Executive Chairmen of all LGAs/LCDAs. A major fall out of these meetings is that each of the Chairmen is expected to undertake the accelerated rehabilitation of existing dilapidated PHC infrastructure; construction of new PHCs in underserved areas based on developed prototype; provision of monthly running costs/imprest for immunization activities; improvement in environmental sanitation of communities; the provision of political leadership on immunization activities e.g. through flagging-off of IPDs at their respective LGAs and immunization outreach sessions to get to underserved and hard-to-reach communities and communities that are not accessing the PHC/Immunization services for any reason whatsoever.