By Anietie Akpan
United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) is rolling out immunization from February 4 to 13 in 12 states in the South of Nigeria, reiterating the need for children to be immunized.
UNICEF announced this on Friday, January 30 during a one day Zonal Media Virtual Briefing with On Air Personalities and Digital Content Creators on Nationwide Integrated Measles-Rubella (MR) Vaccination Campaign in Southern States, organized by Broadcasting Corporation of Abia (BCA) Umuahia in collaboration with UNICEF Enugu Field Office.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Chief of UNICEF Field office, Enugu, Mrs. Juliet Chiluwe, charged participants to take the Measles Rubella (MR) campaign far and wide to ensure that many children are vaccinated.
“Your work is of extreme importance so please engage the religious leaders, authorities parents, caregivers for the cause of children”, she said.
Chiluwe stated that routine immunization can really prevent diseases and such campaign is a reminder that children are fully immunized so that they can have a great start in life.
“I went to the field last week, specifically Benue, Ebonyi and Anambra and I really see the need to strengthen routine immunization but also make sure that the campaigns are efficiently rolling out in the 12 states”, she said.
On her part, the UNICEF Communications Officer, Enugu Field Office, Dr. Ijeoma Onuoha Ogwe said, the main objective of the meeting was to strengthen the media to intensify digital awareness campaigns on Measles Rubella.
She said that this is a campaign that had been run elsewhere, but for the southern region, “we are commencing and a state had already commenced, that is Bayelsa, but the bulk of the states within our territory, Anambera, Imo, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Cross River, Abia, will be commencing from the 4th of this month, 4th of February till 13th of February.
She said that the vaccination is for children from 9 months to 14 years and the need for the media to take the message out for that age group that is at risk and “for us to have a harmonised messaging approach towards informing the public, engaging with them in all the ways we know very well how to, using our veritable platforms, and also ensuring that we get feedback, the communication cycle is complete”.
She said it was imperative to strengthen public health messaging across digital channels to ensure high uptake and broad coverage among eligible children in the southern part of Nigeria for effective vaccination campaigns.
In his welcome address, the Director General (DG) of BCA, Francia Nwubani said current campaigns is the phase 2 for the Southern states as the phase 1 was done in the Northern part of the country and this is an opportunity created by UNICEF in collaboration with the BCA to bring to speed on-air personalities and digital content creators on what is going to happen.
The DG who was represented by a Director in BCA and moderator of the Zoom meeting, Mr. Nkpa Okezie stated, “we have seen the sensitisation is ongoing at word levels, over the radio and at different forums. The sensitisation is ongoing and UNICEF, in order to complete this circle, has created this forum for all of us to meet, collaborate, brainstorm and see the way forward in our own circle”.
Dr. Chikezie Obasi of the Enugu State University Teaching Hospital (ESUTH), in his presentation said, the essence of the campaign Is “to ensure the protection of every child in Nigeria. We need to have a nationalistic goal of making sure that over 106 million children we have in Nigeria are protected against measles, rubella and some other diseases. This is combined with what we are laying emphasis on, measles and rubella”.
He said, “this is an ambitious campaign. I can tell you that over 20 million dollars is getting into this and they are targeting getting about 106 million children to be vaccinated”.
“So you can see where your role is as cluster voice and critical partners in every caregiving sector. You cannot take away the voice of the people in the media space. Today, media is taking a very bigger shape of whatever we have today.
“You cannot do without talking about media. So the big picture here is that this is not just a health campaign. It is a national movement towards a healthier future led by Nigerians and Nigerian-supported partners.
So your voice is very apt in trying to change the narrative especially the rhetorics and myths and other issues surrounding vaccines”.
He stated that measles “is very dangerous to children. If you have ever seen a child with measles, it consists of severe pneumonia, blindness, swelling of the brain, which we call encephalitis, and then death. And it is meant for people who have malnourished children.
“In fact, some people say malnutrition is a multiplier. Because for a child who is malnourished, measles actually drains the little you have and then the outcome of the disease is worse on these children. Sometimes it actually gets to the state of death.
“Because of what we call congenital rubella syndrome. Rubella looks like it is mild in children, but it could be catastrophic to the unborn child. In kids, rubella is often mild, but a pregnant woman who is infected can transfer the disease to the unborn baby”.
He said, “we have what we call congenital rubella syndrome. It gives you lifelong defects, which include blindness, deafness, heart defect and intellectual disability. So if we look at this, we are seeing that Africa, the burden is quite high in Africa.
“We are having about 116 children, 100,000 cases of live births that could get congenital rubella syndrome. If we know that this is preventable by vaccine, we see that we can actually save the life of these children of 116 by protecting everybody. So what do we do? So in 2024, data shows that transmission of this disease is very high”.
Dr.Obasi said one of the challenges in getting vaccines through to many is the issue of the hard-to-reach areas.
More recently, he said “we look at hard-to-reach areas as places that are topographical. But we have seen, especially in our attachment area in the southeast here, we are seeing hard-to-reach areas like we have in insecure prone zones.
“For Enugu State, for example, which I know, if you go to somewhere like the Enugu North local government area, there are areas in Enugu where it is very hard to reach. If you come to Abia State, I know clearly between Okigwe zone in Imo state, to Uvim, some of those places are prone, insecure areas. And we will categorise them as hard-to-reach areas.
“We know there are challenges in places where you can have mobility, challenges in places where people may not get to understand what you are doing. And then we have these rumours and vaccine hesitancies that have been pledging our vaccines and getting vaccines. We are going to come to that a little bit”.
Another great challenge, he said “is what we say is vaccine hesitancy. We can’t stop talking about it. There are so many myths people talk about vaccine hesitancy”.
Issues of faith based challenges is another as people will say, “God protects everybody. In fact, my child does not require to get the vaccine. You know, vaccines are drugs, and they are not necessary for a child of God.
“But what we needed to tell these guys is a very simple thing. That even in the same Bible, the Bible says that my people perish because of lack of knowledge. Not because they don’t have faith. The way we don’t have knowledge, that God has provided an opportunity, you know, for us to do.
“As He has emboldened us with all the knowledge. All we need to do is to apply this knowledge when we need them. For example, if you are hungry, you don’t go praying”.
Another challenge, he said People will tell you is that vaccine was one thing that was designed to reduce the population of Africa but the truth is that people in Europe, they still take the vaccine. And this vaccine is clearly protected by UNICEF, WHO and others and it is tested.
Dr Obasi noted that, “vaccine is not a thing that will wipe away our population. And you point to the successful campaigns that we’ve done with vaccines. Smallpox for those who are above 50, you know.
They are stored in a very good condition. And they have what we call vaccine monitors and our brothers and sisters are working with both UNICEF, National Primary Health and Development Agency, and even more than that”.
He emphasized that measles is very dangerous as a child with measles comes with “complication of deafness, blindness, heart problems, brain development and so on. But more importantly, anytime we see a child with a rash, it’s very apt.
“Anytime we see a child with a rash, it’s important that we tell our public. If you see a child with a rash, please take the child to the hospital. The rash may be a simple rash.
Many of us from different homes may have seen measles. It’s highly contagious.
“For a malnourished child, it is very highly, it would be catastrophic if the parents did not do that. So when we have armed ourselves with this, what do we need to do? First, educate people on what the measles is and then educate people on what to do”.
He charged the media to advantage of their various platforms to sensationalize the public on the need of the vaccines and disabuse their minds on the various myths, faith based beliefs, hesitancy and others as it protects the child and his or her future.
“The vaccine we are trying to do is to give a whole lot of people protection”, Dr Obasi said adding, “we break the transmission of the virus. We break the transmission from one person to the other. We bridge the gap. So we try to achieve what we call hard immunity.
On his part, Dr Hillary Ozo of the UNICEF Enugu Field Office also called on the media practitioners to take the issue of the measles rubella campaigns seriously by prioritizing it in terms of content.
He said one of the things that have been reoccurring in the field of vaccination is that of doubt or hesitancy and “one of the things we have to do is to find ways of making sure that we build the confidence and conviction in people as most of the doubts are often Nyong misinformation”.
On how we create content that will make people dispel of misinformation, he said, the media can create the kind of content that is educational and informative to the public that will make them appreciate and accept the vaccine administration.
