UNICEF Re-Echor Zero Dose, as Efforts Intensifies integrated Measles Vaccination Campaign
By Adamu IMAM, Bauchi 1st Nov, 2024
The United Nations Children's Fund UNICEF Bauchi Field Office (BFO) has re-echor its determination in collaboration with Bauchi state government through logistics and commodity supports, to ensure every child gets vaccinated throughout the state and other four 4 states that it covering
This was disclosed during a media briefing on the preparedness of the intergrated state wide vaccination exercise by Mr. George Eki UNICEF Social Behavioral Change Specialist (SBC) Officer and Patrick Akor Health Officer, held at the Bauchi Field Office BFO on Friday.
In his speech during the briefing SBC specialist emphasized the need for the media to publicize the effort by making sure all communities across those states get first hand information about the vaccination activities slated for Saturday 2nd November 2024 across communities geared towards protecting the children irrespective of their distance.
He also maintained that, other supports been provided by UNICEF are cooling chain system and advocacy communication and social mobilization ACSM is to support all the five 5 states
Basically, is not only UNICEF along we are working with our major partners states primary healthcare development agencies and other donor healthy partners that are also providing supports, and our targets across all states is 85 percent to be achieved.
"The national primary healthcare agency, the states agencies we have been working closely to ensure that different aspects of the campaign is covered, and their is logistics that have been provided to states and importantly ACSM advocacy communication and social mobilization is solely UNICEF mandate where we provided supports to all the states to ensure people gets to know when this campaign is going to happen,
"gets to know the age bracket of children that are eligible for this vaccination people need to know how and where to recieved those vaccines and this would be through community engagement activities engaging traditional rulers, religious leaders even the teachers are involved, the age range of these children are also school children
So teachers and ministry has also been actively engaged in ensuring that one gets information to their parent, through parent teachers association PTA
We don't want parents to say or we don't know some of the vaccinating team would be visiting homes in terms of awareness parents to say we don't know so we Radio programs , we have jingles on air for the past weeks.
The health specialist Patrick Akor in his speech maintained that, "we will reach every child where ever they are through LGAs , and that of the measles at the end of the campaign is going to be coverage survey where every teacher"'
"we expect every states at the LG ward to get up to 95% coverage of children been vaccinated so we urged the media to see how we support the people, the community and and pass the massage to the how important of this vaccination".
He further stressed that, we are looking up towards eliminating measles and see how issues of mortality and mobility as regards to measles case re-occurring in our communities, our wards and local governments, so we also try to ensure that UNICEF Bauchi Field Office BFO support the vaccinating teams with transport to go rounds , and the health workers that have been trained provide this vaccination exercise throughout the period,
Akor also continue that, "we are commencing the exercise would start on Saturday the 2nd of November and it will go for five 5 days vaccination while for the oral polio would go for four 4 days,
"We have mop up period that would take us six 6 to seven 7 days for us to ensure that we reach out all communities and we Benny able to reach out every children with Polio vaccines which is two drops, he maintained.
"then for measles and our monitoring team is key but not just that we would continue even after the exercise to see that they have completed their immunization schedule as when due".
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