The
twenty-four-year-old said his parents did not allow him to be immunised
at all when he was a child. According to him, his father believed so
strongly that his children would grow into strong men and women without
immunisation that he instructed his family members to chase away any
vaccination team that came near his compound.
The young man said though he does not
hate his parents for denying him vaccination, he wished he was immunised
so that he would be walking around with his legs, and have a better
source of livelihood to fend for his family.
Hajiya Hassana Ahmed, a Civil Servant
and mother of three, said she ensured all her children accessed all the
vaccines for routine immunisation, adding that it has made them very
healthy and she has not had course to frequent the hospital as they
rarely fell sick.
“I took their immunisation seriously
and never forgot any of their immunisation dates and appointments at
the hospital. They are very healthy children,” she added.
Narrating her experience on the benefits
of vaccination, Chika Offor, a member of the Women Advocates for
Vaccine Access, WAVA, and Chief Oversight Officer at the Vaccine
Network for Disease Control, said when she first stepped into
Damangaza, a Hausa Fulani settlement located at Garki Ward of the Abuja
Municipal Area Council, in 2011, vaccine-preventable diseases, deaths
were rampant and immunisation was non -existent.
She said advocacy to the community
convinced them on the need to keep their children alive with vaccines
and in 2013, efforts to improve access to vaccines paid off; “as no
child died of vaccine-preventable diseases in the community.”
“ Women in the community now seek out
routine immunisation for their children themselves and men too have lent
their voice in support of it,” she said.
Early vaccination prevents disability
and early child related diseases, but till date some communities and
parents still refuse to allow their children to be immunised. Some of
them forget their children’s immunisation appointments at the hospital,
and do not let them access vaccination during vaccination exercises.
The 2013 National Demographic Health
Survey (NDHS 2013) NDHS shows that about 25% of children (age 12-23
months) had received all the recommended vaccinations while 21% of
eligible children received no vaccination at all.
UNICEF said that about three out of 10
under five deaths are caused by diseases for which there are preventive
vaccines, such as pneumonia, diarrhoea, tetanus, among others.
One in every five children does not
receive the vaccines they need, according to a study by the Women
Advocates for Vaccine Access, WAVA.
“Immunisation is the process by which a
person is protected from or made resistant to an infectious disease,
typically by administering a vaccine at defined periods,” said WAVA.
The difference between immunisation and
vaccination is that vaccination is the process of administering
vaccines to a person, either through oral drops or by injection while
immunisation refers to the protection that is acquired or the immunity
process.
All vaccines given via the routine
immunisation programme in Nigeria are free in government owned or public
health facilities across the country. The free vaccines include BCG
(against tuberculosis), polio, Pentavalent vaccines (contain vaccines
against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, Hepatitis B and
Haemophilus influenza type B - HiB), pneumococcal conjugate vaccines,
measles and yellow fever. Other vaccines are currently not free of
charge.
Dr Chizoba Wonodi, Convener Women
Advocates on Vaccine Access (WAVA) said it was important for children
to be immunised because unlike adults, the immune systems of children
were immature and not strong enough to eliminate many of the germs they
may be exposed to.
“Immunisation provides protection to
help children fight diseases in their early life, thereby helping to
save millions of children around the world from untimely death,” she
said.
Dr Wonodi said immunisation should not
be seen as an expenditure, but rather as in investment because when
countries spend $1, they get back at least $16 in economic gains.
Dr Uche Ewelike, a public health
physician and health economist said as a developing nation, the
unarguable importance of childhood immunisation could not be
overemphasized.
He said it was a cost-effective way of
improving the economic, social and living standard of a nation, adding
“Today when you talk about immunisation people only look at the
immediate benefit of stopping vaccine preventable deaths, without
looking at gains in improving cognitive function, improvement in
productive capacity, cost of time caring for the sick children and the
cost of burden of care on the parents.”
Dr Ewelike, who is also secretary of the
Association of Public Health Physicians of Nigeria, Federal Capital
Territory chapter, said infant mortality was not just a major indicator
for a country’s health system assessment, but also has a very severe
consequence on economic growth and development of any nation.
The public health expert said we must
therefore walk the talk in achieving a healthy generation through
effective immunisation, adding that the benefits were tested, evidence
based and development driven.
He said: “For instance if a community
embarks on good immunisation practices by mobilising a comprehensive
vaccination for children 0-5years in their community, the “herd effect”
of vaccines also protects the community. This therefore makes such
community healthier and improves the quality of life in such
communities.
“Parents should also know that it is
morally sound, economically better and parentally protecting to have
your children immunised. This will save them from incessant visits to
hospital for treatments of vaccine preventable diseases and reduce the
regressive out of pocket payment that makes the family poorer. If we
must have better families, communities and nation’s productive
workforce, we must pay adequate attention to immunisation in this
country.”
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