By Rakiya A.Muhammad
The African Health Budget Network, AHBN, has strengthened the capacity of Sokoto State Community of Practice members on immunisation budget tracking, advocacy, accountability, transparency, and sustainability.
The Community of Practice includes government officials, traditional leaders, journalists, young people, people with disabilities, members of civil society, labour unions, and other groups.
The CoP is responsible for expediting progress in enhancing routine immunisation coverage, specifically targeting children who have not received a single regular dose (referred to as zero-dose children).
The African Health Budget Network, in consortium with the African Epidemiology Network (AFENET), is implementing the Zero Dose Learning Hub in Nigeria.
The hub is a platform for sharing best practices and fostering stakeholder collaboration. To further these objectives, the consortium has established Communities of Practice (CoP) in some states, including Sokoto, Bauchi, Borno, and Kano.
Speakers at the one-day capacity building for the CoP members in Sokoto noted human resource gaps, delays in funding releases, and other issues leading to suboptimal childhood immunisation.
“The challenges include funding issues and insufficient human resources at the local levels; community demand is an issue; awareness is also lacking; and sometimes people are not accountable for delivering what they should,” remarked Dr Nurudeen Aliyu, Team Lead, AFENET Sokoto Field Office.
Dr Aliyu, however, pointed out that creating the Community of Practice will significantly help in advocating for the stakeholders to take the necessary actions to address the identified gaps and ultimately lower the number of children in Sokoto who have not had any vaccinations.
He said they implemented the IRRMA strategy, which entails identifying, reaching, monitoring, measuring, and advocating for adequate funding, budget tracking, budget release, and budget performance.
This strategy is crucial in ensuring the necessary resources are allocated and utilised effectively to reach the zero-dose children.
The Sokoto Team Lead called on the government to ensure adequate and timely release of funding to reach the zero-dose children. He suggested rationalising human resources, noting the concentration of such resources in the metropolitan local government areas.
“When you go to rural LGAs, you find that the human resources are reducing in number at the facility levels, so recruitment of additional human resources will go a long way, but in the interim, they can rationalise the available resources.”
Nasiru Abubakar, Programme Manager of the State Emergency Routine Immunisation Coordination Centre, Sokoto State Primary Healthcare Development Agency, lauded the development partners for helping the state tackle zero doses.
He also highlighted the Centre’s role in coordinating emergency immunisation activities, ensuring the availability of vaccines, and monitoring the progress of immunisation efforts across the state.
He reiterated the state government’s unwavering commitment to redressing the situation, noting that it has budgeted N520 million for immunisation activities in 2024 and has already released over N308 million.
“Our centre is working day and night to improve immunisation coverage and tackle the zero-dose issue in the state,” Abubakar asserted.
Dr Aminu Magashi Garba, the Africa Health Budget Network coordinator, applauded the Sokoto state government for allocating and releasing immunisation funds.
He urged the government to release and use the remaining funds for immunisation coverage, vaccine delivery, and reaching every child in Sokoto State who has not received a single vaccination dose.
“From what we heard from the presentations of the Executive Secretary, Primary Health Care Development Agency, and the Programme Manager, State Emergency Routine Immunisation Coordinating Centre, we are very optimistic that the Sokoto State government is ready to improve immunisation.”
Umar Garba Kadi, State Focal Person AHBN Sokoto Field Office, explained that the CoP is a crucial support system for the state government, accelerating progress in improving coverage, particularly reaching the Zero Dose Children, by influencing budgetary allocation, releases, and utilisation through advocacy to demand accountability and transparency.
He added that the CoP will continually engage and facilitate coordination among state-level partners to enhance the sustainability of immunisation finances.
