FCT- PHCB Sets Dec 5 For Vaccination Of Under 5 Children

To reduce maternal, neonatal, and child motartality, the Federal Capital Territory Primary Health Care Board, FCT- PHCB, will begin vaccination of children under five years and other healthcare interventions for nursing mothers.

To this end, the Mandate Secretary, FCT Health Services And Environment Secretariat, Dr Adedolapo Fasawe is appealing to nursing mothers to acess this healthcare survival interventions and get their children immunized against Polio and other preventable diseases.

Fasawe made the appeal during a media briefing ahead of the December round of the FCT 2024 Out Break Response (OBR)/Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Week (MNCHW), scheduled for 5th to 9th December, 2024.

Fasawe, represented by the Director, Medical and Diagnostics Department, FCTA, Dr Abubakar Ahmadu, also raised concerns over acute malnutrition and micronutrient prevalence killing under five children in FCT like other States in Nigeria, describing it as worrisome and unacceptable.

According to Fasawe, “Approximately 1 million underfive children die annually before their 5th birthday due
to malnutrition and vaccine preventable disease.

Fasawe noted hat the rate of stunting is 21.2%, underweight 12.1%, while wasting is 3.0%, adding that wasting reflects global acute malnutrition, which she noted, is still unacceptably high, to meet up the WHO global target of lower than 5% for GAM by 2025 (NDHS 2018).

She explained that micronutrient malnutrition is also prevalent, while evaluation by UNICEF in the last SMART survey published in 2017 showed that Vitamin A coverage for FCT was 40.6%, which is far below the minimum 90% target.

Fasawe, who also decried the low percentage of mothers practising exclusive breastfeeding in FCT, advised nursing mothers to exclusively breastfeed for 6 months and make them available to receive all interventions that will improve their nutritional status.

To ensure that all nooks and crannies are covered, Fasawe said arrangements have been made for 298 fixed post teams to be in the health facilities, 50 Gated Estates to work in big Estates, 1,166 house-to-house teams to visit different homes, and 314 special teams to visit schools, churches, mosques and special places.

In her remarks, the Acting Executive Secretary,FCT- PHCB, Hajiya Rukayat Wammako listed the services that will be rendered during the December OBR/MNCH Week to include oral polio vaccination for children from 0 to 59 months, Vitamin A supplementation for children between 6 to 59 months, deworming of children between 12 to 59 months, as well as routine immunisation against vaccine preventable diseases for children from 0 to 11 months.

Others are growth monitoring and promotion, food demonstration and nutrition screening of children between 6 to 59 months, birth registration, family planning services, and hand washing demonstration, among others.

In their various goodwill messages, Zainab Shittu, who is Helen Keller’s Nutrition Program Officer, Rahma Abubakar, SBC Facilitator with UNICEF and Dr Ramatu Abdu- Aguye representing AFENET unanimously pledged their support for the success of the maternal, newborn and child health week; and called on the media to assist in amplifying the campaign to residents to achieve the set target.

Remi Johnson, Edited By Grace Namiji