A report by the World Health Organisation and United Nations Children’s Fund show the coverage of immunisation in Nigeria has improved but has remained stagnant for the past three straight years.
The report said coverage for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine (DTP3) – a measure commonly used to evaluate the strength of routine immunization— has improved due to increased surveillance from 46% in 2013 to 49% last year, and stayed at that level in the last three years.
Similar coverage and stagnated growth for three years are reported for other vaccines including BCG at 64%, DTP1 at 64%, HepB3 at 49%, Hib3 at 49%, MCV1 at 51%, Pol3 at 49%, and YFV at 51%.
The stagnated growth means many countries in Africa still fall short of the Global Vaccine Action Plan to ensure coverage for DTP3 reaches 90%.
It is the first time the WHO has used more accurate data from more countries. A total 125 out of 194 countries reported data used in the report, and 89 of them reported data down to district levels, covering a combined 88 million people.
Orin Levine, director of vaccine delivery at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Mike Osterholm, director of the Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy said countries like Nigeria “deserve our highest praise for reporting the most accurate estimates of coverage, not the highest possible number.”
“As a result, the Nigerian government, despite immense administration and security challenges, is better placed to map out gaps in coverage and respond appropriately,” the wrote in Devex.
“Nigeria’s courageous leadership demonstrates how serious commitment to reaching every child with immunizations starts with accurate data. We encourage other countries to follow Nigeria’s lead in taking charge of their own data and using it to improve the protection of their communities.”
Executive director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency, Faisal Shuaib, said generating and reporting data—alongside transparency, accountability and due process—were all positive outcome arising the Change Agenda of the Buhari administration.
