NPHCDA: The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Dr. Faisal Shauib, said that more than 800,000 children in six northern states do not have access to regular immunizations.
He said that the six northern states are Kaduna, Niger, Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, and Sokoto. He said that they don’t have access to standard immunizations or have never been reached for them because of banditry and other forms of insecurity.
Shuaib said that the trend was because of the actions of Terrorists in the areas. He said this at a meeting in Sokoto with traditional leaders from some inaccessible communities in six states.
He said that the meeting was a turning point in how they were going to reach children and get them vaccinated against diseases that could be prevented.
the NPHCDA boss also said that the act showed how committed the traditional institutions in the North are to making sure that their people get good health care.
Shuaib said that inaccessibility was a big problem for our attempts to stop the spread of the circulating variant of poliovirus type 2, which is happening in some states of the country right now.
He said that not being able to get vaccinated would stop the progress that had been made so far because it would leave other children open to getting the polio virus.
The Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development and the NPHCDA worked together to set up the meeting.
Shuaib also said that the meeting was meant to improve basic health care for the people of the region and Nigeria in general.
“As respected leaders of our country, I respectfully ask Your Majesties to always speak up for vaccinations and other basic health services.
“By using your powerful and respected place in society to stress the importance of regular immunization and other PHC services to parents and caregivers, we can overcome barriers and increase acceptance of vaccines, making sure that every child gets these life-saving treatments.
“By doing this, we can stop the spread of cvpv2 and improve the health and well-being of everyone in our communities in a big way.
“The HPV vaccine is very good at stopping the most common kinds of Human Papilloma Virus that cause cervical cancer and other types of cancer. We would get in touch with you to ask for your help getting the word out to your neighborhoods about how important these vaccines are.”
Maryam Sa’id, the director of the Sokoto Field Office, acted as Cristian Munduate’s representative and claimed that UNICEF had given the nation a million doses of vaccine.
She also said that UNICEF would keep giving Nigeria technical help so that health services could be provided well.
Also speaking was the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, who was represented by the Emir of Argungu, Alhaji Samaila Mera. He said that as leaders of the people, they would find another way to get to places that couldn’t be reached by road.
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