NGO takes stop-pneumonia campaign to Lagos community, vaccinates children

As part of the efforts to commemorate the 2021 World Pneumonia Day, The Neo Child Initiative (TNCI) has taken its #StopPneumonia sensitisation campaign to Iwaya community in Lagos, vaccinating hundreds of children in the course of the event.

The event, which ran for two days, was a result of the collaborative efforts of TNCI, Iwaya community leaders, the management of the local primary health centre, and the management of Fazil Omar Senior High School, Iwaya.

The Team Lead of the NGO, Dr Cassandra Akinde stated that she and her team were happy to collaborate with their partners for the event and that they hope to secure more public-private partnerships to ensure community ownership and sustainability of community health initiatives.

“We hoped to educate and vaccinate 150 children against pneumonia, but eventually ended up attending to 180 children,” Akinde said. “Parents’ turnout was encouraging and the TNCI team remains inspired to keep pushing initiatives like this in underserved communities in Nigeria.”

Chief Francis Ogunbanjo, the Iwaya community leader who works with the Lagos State Ministry of Health, commended the NGO for the vaccination programme, appreciated the support of the principal of the school and the health workers from the primary health centre.

“We are very much available for collaboration with TNCI on any future events,” Ogunbanjo added.

The vaccination programme commenced with a health talk by the NGO’s vice health team lead, Dr Urenna Emenyonu, a dentist, who admonished parents to observe good personal hygiene, frequent and thorough hand-washing, quality natural food supplements for adequate child nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, etc. that prevent pneumonia.

“The risk of any Nigerian dying of pneumonia is 330 times more than any other country in the world, despite easier preventive methods via vaccination,” Emenyonu said. “Vaccination apathy and lack of health risk awareness rank high amongst the factors contributing to the rising cases of pneumonia in local communities.”

Aro Temitayo, one of the health workers, lamented that some mothers miss vaccination dates for their children either due to lack of interest or time, despite various follow-ups.

“We have been able to get in touch with parents who have missed their child(ren) vaccinations and we vaccinated their child(ren) at this event,” Temitayo said.

Children between the ages of six months and two years were vaccinated. Other children who did not fall within this age bracket had access to free health checkups, with drug supplements dispensed for diagnosed ailments.

The children were also taught basic hygienic practices, and they were also encouraged to be good hygiene ambassadors in their homes and schools.

Chinonso Eze, a mother who had her three children vaccinated, appreciated TNCI for the relief packages provided for the children and for bringing the health talk and vaccination to their community.

“We will tell other parents all we have learned so that they will be encouraged to attend programmes like this,” Eze added.

Another parent, Abiola Adegun, said, “This event is good. I liked that we were encouraged to always vaccinate our children. It is a pity that some parents don’t do this.”

Oluwakemi Eletu, added, “Parents should take vaccinations serious. They should be at events like this where parents and children are taught how to take care of the bodies.”

Olufunmi Desalu, a health worker, while thanking TNCI, noted that the event has created a bridge between the community health workers and parents, as well as inspired parents to understand the essence of the vaccination of their children.

Also at the event, the children were engaged with games and music.

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