By: Monday Danladi, Bauchi
Bauchi Local Government Area of Bauchi State has in the last Three days recorded large turnout of U-5 children who were brought by their mothers for the ongoing Integrated Vaccination campaign for measles and Polio.
The exercise was said to be going on smoothly as caregivers are bringing the eligible children U-5 out for the vaccination.
Assessment visits to some of the facilities within the LGA by a team of Health Reporters on Tuesday, revealed that the exercise was well accepted by the people of the area.
At the Miri Ward of the LGA, it was observed that children were brought out to be immunized for measles and Polio as part of the routine immunization in the facility.
While sharing his thoughts on the ongoing Measles Integrated Immunization Campaign, the Ward Focal Person of Miri Ward, Umar Abdullahi Ningi, said that the successes being recorded can also be attributed to the integrated nature of the campaign.
“There were outbreaks of Measles in the State and this has been worrying parents. So, when the campaign commences, parents bring along their children for the Immunization and in the process, other immunization vaccines like that of polio and other routine immunizations were administered too”, said Ningi.
Giving an update of the exercise in the Ward, the Immunization the Focal Person, disclosed for the measles vaccination, the target is 7100 while there is no figure for Polio OVR but taking place in Ninety-Seven communities.
According to him, so far, 2,701 children have been immunized for measles while 11,606 children have been administered with the OVR to prevent them from Polio variants in the area.
He also disclosed that a total of 2,950 doses of vaccines have been used for measles immunization while for the OVR, a total of 12,300 doses have been used.
Abdullahi Ningi said that the total is for the entire Miri Ward at the Health facilities that are cited at the various communities including the mobile and fixed posts.
In Dan Amar 1 Ward, the Immunization Focal Person disclosed that the target for measles in the area is 5006 U-5 children while the target for OVR is 9,529.
He however explained that for the first Three days of the campaign (Saturday to Monday) a total of 1,135 eligible children have been immunization for measles while 7,555 have been reached for OVR.
According to him, for the Three days, 8000 doses of OVR have been used while for measles, 1,470 doses have been used.
Also speaking, the Routine Immunization Officer of Bayan Fada PHCC, Halima Adamu expressed satisfaction with the turnout of caregivers for the exercise saying that it has been very encouraging compared with past exercises.
She added that so far in the Three days of the exercise, no serious challenge has been recorded to have hampered the smooth operation of the exercise.
The RI Officer expressed optimism that for the Ward and Facility, the target will be met as adequate Mobilization has been made while the investment of the traditional rulers and community/religious leaders has complemented in encouraging the parents to take the children to the facilities for immunization.
Halima Adamu, also shared her experience at the ongoing campaign saying, “the turnout here is quite encouraging as you can see for yourself.”
According to her,”I have been comparing notes with some of my counterparts in other PHCs across the State, and the response to the campaign at the PHC level has been the same with them too.”
She also said that, “What is even more heartwarming is the involvement of male caregivers that escorts their spouses and in some cases they are the ones that were actually bringing their children for the Immunization”.
One of the caregivers who brought her 3 years old girl for immunization expressed happiness that the exercise was conducted saying that it will enhance the well-being of the children and protect them against the child killer diseases.
She said that her child has received the complete doses of the required vaccinations stressing that, “As you can see, my daughter is looking healthy and beautiful. I call on all mothers to allow their children U-5 years to be immunized in order to stay healthy.”
Another woman at the Miri PHCC, a mother of Six, Ummi Ibrahim, who brought her less than 2 years baby girl to access the immunization services, disclosed that, though her last three children had not missed their routine immunization, her first three children had not had their complete doses of immunization and that the health status of the first three children is not as sound as that of the last three.
She attributed the change of attitude regarding accessing Immunization to the house to house awareness creation being carried out by Volunteer Community Mobilizers (VCMs) in their community.
Mother of a newborn baby, Maryam Auwal, said that the campaign was timely for her newborn baby because she had not had any form of vaccination.
She also said that she was at the facility to commence the series of immunization including that of measles for her baby.
One challenge observed is that of mobility which the adhoc personnel complained about pointing out that with the current hike in transport fare neccesuated by the high cost of petrol.
Some of the personnel appeal for adjustment in the allowances to enable them break even with the cost of transportation to the points of the exercise.
While sharing his field experience in mobilizing communities in the ongoing campaign, a supervisor of VCMs at Dan Amar A Ward, Yahuza Haruna, said that mobilization has hugely contributed to the success of the campaign in the Ward.
He however pointed out that, there is the need to sustain the tempo in subsequent campaigns and to commence mobilization much early.
Recall that UNICEF and other implementing partners are supporting the state government in the conduct of the integrated Immunization exercise against measles and Polio for U-5 children.
