Some 600,000 children have not been immunised against childhood killer diseases in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States.
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief of Kano Field Office, Rahama Farah, made this known during a press conference on the UNICEF State of the World Children (SOWC) 2023.
During the press conference, held in Kano, UNICEF Communication Specialist, Samuel Kaalu, called on caregivers to embrace immunisation, as it has been proven to be essential and cost effective to preventing diseases and as well reduce childhood killer diseases.
Speaking on ‘Immunisation and Zero Dose‘ situation in Kano Field Office states, Chief of Kano Field Office Rahama Farah said Kano has the highest number with over 300,000 of the children out of the total number which represents 55 per cent.
Farah said the children are scattered across 46 local government areas, with majority of those affected in Kano.
After Kano is Jigawa and Katsina, mostly in remote areas, out of reach of normal health system areas, UNICEF said.
“We in UNICEF are very concerned about the zero dose number of children not immunised in the three states of Kano, Katsina and Jigawa under the Kano field office.
“We are concerned because this is the basic fundamental child rights in terms of having access to immunisation services.
“We know that globally, children are dying because they don’t have access to preventable diseases vaccination, and this is a major concern for us in Nigeria and Kano in particular.
“Over 600,000 children who missed first dose of immunisation are in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States.
“Over 300,000 of the children were in Kano and represents 55 per cent. We have 26 per cent of the children in Jigawa State and 19 per cent in Katsina State.
“We are calling for every community leader, policy makers to put hands together to build a partnership and reduce the high number of children not immunised against the child killer diseases.
“We are calling on the government to increase investment in health system to reach out to the children. They should also invest heavily to ensure robust and strengthening the primary healthcare in the three states. They should integrate immunisation as part of health services that are being provided to the communities,” Farah said.
UNICEF Health Specialist, Abimbola Aman-Olaniyo, said children who are not immunised are vulnerable to preventable diseases and prone to outbreaks as she linked the situation to the recent Diphtheria outbreak in Kano State and Cerebrospinal meningitis in Jigawa State.
She said the fund plans to reach 250,985 children in Kano, 154,768 and 94,060 children in Katsina and Jigawa states respectively for the year 2023 to reduce the zero dose children.