Lagos: 459,264 Children Fully Vaccinated Against Life-threatening Diseases
Elizabeth Taiwo, Lagos State Immunisation Officer, Primary Health Care Board (PHCB), has disclosed that not less than 459,264 under-five children in Lagos State have been fully vaccinated against life-threatening diseases from January to December 2022.
She made the revelation during the Media Advocacy Meeting by the National Orientation Agency (NOA), in collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
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Taiwo revealed that Lagos targeted 596,802 under-five children in the 20 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state. However, she said, the State successfully vaccinated 459,264 with Penta 3 vaccine which protects children against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenza type B, representing 77 per cent immunisation coverage. The number of under-five children who were not immunized with the Penta 3 vaccine in the period under review amounted to 137,538, she added.
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Speaking on the challenges that hindered RI outcomes in the state, the immunisation officer disclosed that data quality and data disparity; the distance of Primary Health Care Centres (PHCs) from community members; low involvement of private facilities; reduced attention to RI activities due to conflicting programmes and gross data error, among others, were the challenges encountered by the Agency.
Taiwo advocated that the District Health Information Systems (DHIS2) reporting platform is still using data from the last census conducted in Nigeria while advocating that National and state should ensure data harmonisation is planned and conducted as soon as possible.
She however averred that, “the Lagos state PHCB is not resting on its oars as the Agency has intensified efforts to reach far communities through outreaches and active mobilisation activities”.
