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| Mr. Ogu Sunday Enemaku |
By Salisu K Ismail
United Nations Child and Education Fund (UNICEF) has decry on the attitude of the some parents to keep records of the vaccination card issued to their wards during routine vaccination to safeguard health of the younger children.
Deliberating on the lingering attitude problem, UNICEF and the National Orientation Agency (NOA) expressed concern about the low level of Child Immunization Card Retention in Northern Nigeria, describing the situation as a big challenge in data-driven, planning and delivery of effective child public healthcare services.
The concern was made public during a one day media dialogue with stakeholders from Kano, JIgawa and Katsina states on immunizations card retention.
During the special edition of the dialogue held, Friday, in Kano, the State Mobilization Officer, Kano State Primary Health-care Management Board, Ado Sanda pointed out the important of safe keeping of child immunization cards.
The card he said, "is very important in providing accurate and reliable data on total immunized children, missed children and how to strategically plan for full coverage and tackling diseases outbreak."
However, Mr. Sanda revealed that, “Based on the survey conducted in Kano State the card retention is below 40 percent, this means it is not possible to track and find the actual number of children immunized and those not immunized in a particular community.”
In his presentation, the UNICEF representative and Specialist for Behavior Change, Ogu Sunday Enemaku said that, the media has a role to play in changing the public perception and attitude towards immunization card retention.
Mr. Enemaku added that, “Media is expected to embark on public enlightenment and awareness on the importance of keeping the card for generating data that can help policymakers and partners to come up with a realistic plan that could help in tackling the high rate of child mortality in the society.”
The dialogue resolved that, all hands must be on desk to curtail issues relating to missing or misplacement of children immunization cards.
Also, participants at the dialogue then called on representatives of various media houses at the meeting to volume-up on the activities of creating awareness on the importance of immunization and card retention for the good health of the children.
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