Nigerian government and UNICEF collaborate to provide 2 primary care centers per district

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has said it intends to support the Nigerian government with the provision of two primary health care centers (PHCs) in each district of the country.

This was revealed by the Head of Public Health, UNICEF Nigeria, Eduardo Celades, while addressing journalists at a media dialogue on immunization and vaccines in Kano on Thursday.

He said this is to improve access to quality health services and vaccination and immunization coverage among infants and young children in the country.

“We support the Federal Ministry of Health with its current plan, which should be launched soon, to build at least two primary care centers per ward,” he said.

He said the goal is to get more than 16,000 health centers fully operational throughout the country.

“We at UNICEF, as partners, are committed to supporting this effort under the leadership of the ministry,” he said.

Newslodgehad earlier reported that the federal government had allocated N260 billion to revitalize primary care centers across the country.

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According to Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Mohammad Pate, the financial injection would address several challenges faced by primary health care centres, including inadequate infrastructure.

Coordinating Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Mohammad Pate (PHOTO CREDIT:

Eduardo said the increase in functional primary care centers would improve the availability of health services to the people and the immunization and vaccination of children across the country.

“We know that vaccines save lives. We are now celebrating 50 years since the immunization program began in the world and in Africa and our research has shown that the program has saved around 154 million lives.

“So we know that vaccines work. This means that about 10 billion years of lives have been saved, especially against measles. That’s huge,” she said.

Vaccines, doubts about immunization

However, the UNICEF official noted that progress in immunization coverage has slowed due to people’s reluctance to get vaccinated.

Edurodo said there are still a large number of children who have not yet been given vaccines of any kind, the zero-dose children, around the world.

In Nigeria, he noted, more than 2 million children have not yet received vaccines and are exposed to different types of viruses.

“We need to address vaccine hesitancy. Rumors, misinformation and disinformation. “If we do nothing, it will be the most limiting factor for immunization in Nigeria in the next five to 10 years,” she said.

“Soon it will not be a question of supply but of demand for the vaccine.”

READ ALSO: FG allocates N260 billion to revitalize primary healthcare in Nigeria: Minister

Chisom Jeff-Obi, CEO of Brook Insight, an organization focused on promoting health and development through research, also spoke at the event, saying Nigeria has a history of disruptive vaccine hesitancy that appears to be still thriving. further.

He said the hesitancy of the population is due to lack of knowledge, misconceptions about the vaccine, parental negligence, poor service delivery and in some cases, poor attitude of health workers.

Jeff-Obi said Nigeria has also struggled with vaccine hesitancy resulting from misinformation and loss of public trust.

For example, he noted, the rumor of the oral polio vaccine sparked a polio vaccination boycott in northern Nigeria in 2003 and that the rumor that the military was vaccinating schoolchildren with the monkeypox virus caused vaccine refusal in the southeast in 2017.

“Immunization coverage in Nigeria is going backwards,” he noted, adding that; “The National Immunization Coverage Survey (NICS) revealed that only 56 percent of children received the third dose of the Penta vaccine.”

What can be done

According to UNICEF Field Office Chief in Kano State, Micheal Banda, managing misinformation about vaccines is crucial to combating vaccine-preventable diseases among infants and young children in the country.

He noted that while efforts have been made to raise awareness, misinformation remains a major obstacle to improving vaccination coverage.

“Poor knowledge and concerns about the safety, side effects and effectiveness of vaccines are the reasons for lack of vaccination. Furthermore, misinformation continues to undermine people’s confidence in vaccines,” he stated.

Benda called for greater media coverage and greater public understanding of the importance of vaccination.

“Unvaccinated children are extremely vulnerable to diseases that can be prevented by immunization, such as polio or measles, and this is unacceptable,” he said.

He also stated that functional PHCs that provide health services to mothers and children are crucial to improving vaccination coverage.

He said: “Experiencing good and sustained economic growth, which are priorities for Kano State and Nigeria as a whole, depends on adequate investment in good health.

“UNICEF will continue to support the government to ensure that quality healthcare is provided to all and aims to ensure that there is primary health care.”