UNICEF, Borno govt include polio vaccination into child health week interventions

UNICEF, Borno govt include polio vaccination into child health week interventions

By Daniel Oyakhire Iregbeyen, Maiduguri 

For the first time ever, the Borno State Government and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has included polio vaccination into the annual Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) Week.

By reintegrating polio into the annual MNCH week, the Executive Secretary, Borno State Primary Healthcare Development Board (SPHDB), Prof. Mohammed Arab said the vaccination against the disease is reinforced to prevent an outbreak of stains of the virus.

Prof Arab who was represented by the SPHDB Director, Healthcare and Community Health Services, Dr Abdulwahab Mala said the state government’s resolve to be result-oriented led to the integration of the polio vaccination into the MNCH week.

The MNCH is an annual health intervention event week in which pregnant women and children under five years are provided an array of immunization services, including Vitamin A supplement, deworming, HIV testing and malnutrition treatment, among others. 

“There are circulating polio variants, and we need to interrupt the circulation in some pockets of LGAs. We are going from house to house, and volunteer community mobilisers will be part of the teams. In the process, all the eligible children will be identified and referred to the nearest facility. 

“This is how to be result-oriented. We are doing this to optimize our nutrition and routine immunization services. You cannot eradicate polio without optimizing nutrition and immunization services. It will minimize the impact of the aftermath to intensify our reach,’’ he said.

Also, speaking at the event, Mamita Bora Thakkar, Officer-in-Charge, UNICEF Chief of Maiduguri Field Office said the MNCH week is an annual opportunity aimed at improving maternal health and child survival.

“The primary goal of the week-long activity is to intensify delivery of high impact integrated interventions which include Vitamin A supplementation for children 6-59 months, deworming for children 12-59 months, screening for malnutrition for children for 0-59 months and Iron and Folic Acid/Multiple Micronutrients Supplements to pregnant mothers.

“Other interventions are counselling on Maternal Nutrition and Infant and Young Child Feeding, vaccination for children and pregnant women, family planning and HIV testing. All these interventions serve as an opportunity for improving maternal health and child survival and development, ‘’ she said.

While acknowledging the high rate of malnutrition in the state, Thakkar called on government to further integrate nutrition preventative and curative programmes into all health interventions in the state.

“The result of the recent Nutrition and Food Security Surveillance Round 14 showed deterioration in the Global Acute malnutrition rate in Borno State which stands at 15.7%. This is concerning as it is very high compared to the acceptable WHO cut-off rate of less than 5%.  

“Malnutrition is the manifestation of many other underlying causes, and diseases like measles being the main contributor.”

UNICEF therefore calls for the government to integrate nutrition preventative and curative programs into all health services to ensure mothers receive appropriate counselling services and children 0-59 months are screened for all forms of malnutrition and referred to appropriate treatment sites,’’ she added.