Bayelsa emerges immunization failing state in Nigeria – WHO

Bayelsa state has been classified as one of the failing states in the federation in terms of immunization coverage.

 The state has also been ranked with 17 states in Northern part of the country with low immunization coverage.                                                                  

  The State Coordinator of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr. Edmund Egbe dropped the hint in Yenagoa at a one day disease surveillance workshop organized in collaboration with the state Ministry of Health for media practitioners as concern some health indices in the state.

  Dr. Egbe added that the state is the only one in the south-south geopolitical zone of the country that has not done well in terms of routine immunization, pointing out that in response to that the state has constituted State Emergency Routine Immunization Coordinating Committee.

   He expressed the determination of the World Health Organization (WHO), Unicef and other health agencies in the state to collaborate with the State Ministry of Health to improve the routine immunization indices of the state.

  Dr. Egbe enjoined the people of the state to ensure that every child born in the state is fully immunized with all the vaccines to enhance healthy growth of the child and avert childhood death.

The State WHO Coordinator appealed to the people to reports any form of disease that is repeatedly showing up in any community to the Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers in the various local government areas of the state for attention.

  According to him the National Immunization Coverage Survey conducted all over the country indicates that about 57 percent of children in the state as at 2016 were not immunized.

  “And that means these children prone to infection diseases”. And today we want to tell you about those infection diseases. Those diseases could likely kill them irrespective of the partner; whether you are medical personnel or not. It could occur like out breaks; outbreaks that are spreading beyond the expectations of the populace. And when these things occur what are our responses?

  We also see that in the presentation today, what as media personnel; what should be our responses? What do we do? What are the things that we can do to help mediate the situation? What are the things that we could put in place to help us support the current programme in the state,”he asked.

  He commended media practitioners in the country for their active role in carrying out enlightenment and sensitization campaign to enlighten the populace on preventive measures and control of the various outbreaks of diseases and charged them to maintain the tempo.

   Dr. Egbe urged media practitioners in Bayelsa state to assist in carry out the sensitizations campaign on surveillance activities of the World Health Organization (WHO) in its efforts to eradicate polio and other diseases.

  He further charged media practitioners to help spread advocacy for polio eradication, report on disease out breaks with verifiable data and information as well as educate the populace on the best practices and preventive measures for polio eradication.

  Dr. Egbe equally enjoined media practitioners to monitor disease trend to ascertain the extend of the spread to enhance the safe practice of it and infection prevention control to put in place.

  According to him one of the mandates of WHO is to eradicate polio and highlighted its adverse effects.

  He said surveillance is everybody responsibility stressing the need for the media to report cases of the disease.