Routine immunisation: WHO faults Kano State on claims

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) has faulted the claims of the Kano State government of achieving over 80 per cent on Routine Immunisation (RI) against polio and other related diseases.

The body said the performance of the government on RI, and other diseases was below 40 per cent.

This is just as the organisation donated 72 motorcycles and 45 mobile phones worth millions of naira to the Kano State Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers, as part of proactive measures to enhance surveillance activities against outbreak of diseases across the 44 Local Government areas of the state.

Disclosing this in Kano, shortly after donating 72 motorcycles, the  WHO Representative in Nigeria, Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, while speaking with pressmen, noted that “though the state’s RI performance from administrative data was showing over 80%, the evidence-based survey conducted indicated 15% performance and when compared with the administrative data, the truth could be somewhere around 40%.”

“When you determine the survey, you rely not on mere verbal communication that ‘my child has been vaccinated,’ but you have to see the proof, so the proof is below 40%. What is critical now is to increase the RI because the current vaccination is very low.”

Dr Alemu, who appreciated what he described as “extraordinary cooperation received from the state government and the peaceful atmosphere, urged the government to consider, as emergency, the current vaccination which was very low and work out strategies with traditional rulers and other key stakeholders on how to improve the immunisation coverage.”

He noted that the donation of the motorcycles to Kano surveillance officers had increased the number of donated bikes to 853 across Nigeria, as complementary efforts to assist the National Centre for Disease Control for prompt response to disease control, especially in some hard-to-reach areas.

The state governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, speaking on the occasion, said he was grateful for the donations, and described the WHO’s contributions to  the health sector in the state as “just too many,” saying the moves had motivated the state government to invest more in the sector.

He promised judicious distribution and utilisation of the donated items to achieve its desired purpose.

Earlier, the state Commissioner for Health, Dr Kabiru Ibrahim Getso, said apart from the donated motorcycles, the WHO had budgeted N1.5 billion for 2018 to support Kano on training and logistics for the movement of the medical team during the exercise.