- Federal Government has introduced rotavirus vaccine immunization to tackle diarrhoea in children
- Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, has beckoned on parents and caregivers to leverage this privilege to enable their children to be vaccinated against all vaccine-preventable diseases.
Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health, who was represented by the Director of Public Health, Morenikeji Alex-Okoh, disclosed this yesterday in Abuja during the launch of the vaccine and flag-off of this year’s African Vaccination Week.
Okoh, said that the Government of Nigeria with the support of donors and partners, especially GAVI has spent huge amounts to fulfil routine immunisation vaccines for Nigerian children, adding that this is because improving the health of Nigerian children remains a priority for this administration.
He said, “We, therefore, ask parents and caregivers to leverage this privilege to enable their children to be vaccinated against all vaccine-preventable diseases.
“Also for those who are PHC leaders at the sub-national level, and all healthcare workers across 40,000 PHC facilities for doggedness in ensuring that no Nigerian child is left behind in accessing potent vaccines and other services.
“Global vaccine alliance and other partners are doing a lot to support the country in ensuring Nigeria maintains its pride of place in relevant in the African continent, especially in the provision of basic cost-effective interventions for children and vulnerable populations.
“The government of Nigeria will continue to play its role for the overall success of all the strategies implemented in the health sector towards the achievement of universal health coverage.”
The Executive Director of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr Faisal Shuaib, said: “Nigeria has the second highest number of deaths from rotavirus, accounting for 14 per cent of all childhood rotavirus deaths worldwide.
Introduction of the rotavirus vaccine is a huge investment due to its substantial economic impact and number of lives that the country is going to save from the introduction.”
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative, Dr Walter Mulombo said: “The introduction of the Rotavirus Vaccine provides the opportunity to reduce the number of children dying every day from diarrhoea disease caused by rotavirus. The public health impact of rotavirus vaccine introduction has been demonstrated in several countries with as much as 50 per cent deaths from diarrhoeal diseases averted in some.”
Rotavirus is a highly contagious virus that causes severe diarrhoeal disease amongst infants and children all over the world. It is the most frequent cause of severe diarrhoea in children, accounting for about 215, 000 deaths of the global 525,000 under-5 mortality attributed to diarrhoeal diseases each year More than 90% of these deaths occur in developing countries, including Nigeria.
Discussion about this post