By Longtong Ibrahim
Kaduna (Nigeria) — A coalition of Civil Society Organizations in Kaduna, Northwest Nigeria, ‘Routine Immunization Task Force’ says it is committed to supporting the State Government in strengthening Routine Immunization through monitoring and tracking of immunization activities in state.
Assistant Coordinator of the group, Mohammed Gidado in an interview with AFRICA PRIME NEWS said, the group was formed to advocate to government on ways of improving routine immunization in the state, especially where gaps exist, either in the purchase or disbursement of vaccines, or in the budget itself.
Gidado explained that the group hopes to achieve that through advocacy and partnership with key ministries and agencies like Ministry of Health, State Primary Healthcare Agency and Ministry of Economic Planning.
He said, “in our quest for advocacy, we would as well build a consensus with the Kaduna State Primary Healthcare Development Agency (KSPHCDA) which is going to be basically on validation of community scorecard, and then, follow up in primary healthcare centers to know how far these routine immunization are going on.
“So it is based on this facts that we would advocate to government, whether it is going on well or not; or what government has budgeted is in line with the need on ground.”
According to him, routine immunization include all immunizations given to babies (when mothers take their babies to health centers) from births to nine months, or even after, such as BCG, OPV1, HEPBO, OPV1, Pentavalent 1, PCV, Rotavirus 1, and Measles among others.
He said, the group is supported by Community Health Research Initiative