Ekiti State Government has appealed to stakeholders to support the bid to ensure children are safe and healthy by ensuring they have unfettered access to healthcare, particularly immunisation.
The Permanent Secretary, Ekiti State Ministry of Information, Olusesan Alabi, gave the charge in Ado Ekiti on Saturday during a one-day quarterly meeting of the Social and Behavioural Change Committee organised by Ekiti State Ministry of Information in collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund to champion the cause of children in Ekiti State and Nigeria.
Alabi said, “Children’s right to good health is very important because it helps in shaping the future, empowers and promotes healthy generations. However, entrenched socio-cultural barriers and misinformation continue to hinder the full realisation of this right. ”
He urged the SBC Committee members to “be agents of disseminating messages on the values and benefits of taking children for immunisation in order to protect children from childhood diseases which may lead to untimely death.”
A UNICEF Social and Behavioural Change specialist, Aderonke Akinola-Adewole, who canvassed more sensitisation to dismiss the myths and beliefs mitigating against the uptake of vaccine, said, “Vaccine is a safe, reliable and effective means to ensure our children remain healthy and free from numerous preventable diseases which can be fatal”.
Akinola-Adewole, represented by the Ekiti State Health Educator, Olajumoke Oguntoye, listed the benefits of ensuring the children take vaccine during the scheduled immunisation programmes or as the case may be, included “protection against dangerous diseases like measles, polio, and influenza; and reduces the severity of illness if the disease is contracted.
The SBC specialist added that being immunised “contributes to the overall health of communities by reducing the spread of contagious diseases and also helps in achieving global health goals, such as the eradication of diseases like smallpox”.
Oguntoye appealed particularly to the religious leaders, private school owners, and parents to embrace vaccination and spread the message to ensure that children were presented for immunisation.
She called on all and “sundry to support and participate in vaccination programmes to ensure a healthier future for all. Immunisation is a critical tool in preventing diseases, saving lives and promoting public health.”
She listed some of the 25 diseases for which vaccines are available according to World Health Organisation as tuberculosis, diphtheria, tetanus, influenza, poliomyelitis, hepatitis E, hepatitis B, hepatitis A, human papilloma virus (HPV), Rubella, cholera, anthrax, yellow fever, rabies, typhoid fever, pneumoccocal disease, haemophilus influenza type, meningococcal disease, mumps, varicella and herpes zoster, and rotavirus gastroenteritis.
The State Immunisation Officer, Omolabake Ogundola, who said the importance of immunising children against preventable diseases could not be overstressed, disabused people’s minds against rumours, misinformation and religious beliefs inhibiting uptake of the vaccine.
Ogundola, represented by the Assistant State Immunisation Programme Officer, Felicia Olorode, urged parents and stakeholders to ensure eligible girls were presented for the HPV vaccination targeted at immunising more children in Ado, Ikere, Oye, Gbonyin and Ise/Orun local government areas.
She said, “The ongoing HPV immunisation programme for children aged 9-14 is to protect girls from cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is one of the diseases of killing women. So we want to stop it. ”
A former State Health Educator and the Executive Director, Foundation for Justice and Social Development, Lola Ologuntoye, encouraged residents “to release their children for immunisation because it is very important to protect them against the diseases.
They should remove myths and misconceptions. Immunisation is very important in the lives of our children so that this will fight against diseases affecting little children. ”
Ologuntoye, who said that her NGO had been doing a lot to support the state, especially at the grassroots, said, “I go to my target communities, meet with the stakeholders, because for the success of any programme, there must be community involvement, community participation, ownership and sustainability.”
Stakeholders at the meeting included representatives of the National Orientation Agency, the Christian Association of Nigeria, the Muslim community, community-based organisations, civil society organisations, market women, health and immunisation personnel and the media.
