Professor Ekanem Ekure, President of the Paediatric Association of Nigeria, expressed concern over Nigeria’s significant share of 2.2 million zero-dose children in West Africa, out of a total of 4.4 million globally.

In 2021, only 23% of children were fully immunized as per the Expanded Programme on Immunization schedule. These remarks were made during the Paediatric Association of Nigeria’s Children’s Art Competition on Immunization to mark Children’s Day in Lagos.

Noting Nigeria’s highest under-five mortality rate globally, Professor Ekure emphasized the preventable nature of the diseases causing these tragic deaths.

She pointed out, “The statistics of children who have received all the vaccines in the national programme is 23 per cent, which is low. It is not surprising that our under-five mortality rate is so high.

“We have the highest under-five mortality rate in the world, and unfortunately, these children are dying from diseases that can be prevented, for which the government has made vaccines available for free.

“Zero-dose children are children who have not received any immunisation. West Africa has 4.4 million zero-dose children, and Nigeria has 2.2 million zero-dose children, which is very sad.

“The top areas where those zero-dose children tend to be more located are the urban slums, conflict areas, and remote and hard-to-reach communities in Nigeria. So, a lot has to be done to reach these children in those communities to ensure that they receive these immunisations.”

On the choice of the theme “Investing in our future means investing in our Children,” Ekure noted, “Children are the future of any nation. Therefore, any effort to boost immunisation in children is securing the future of our nation. Coincidentally, the second phase of the human papillomavirus vaccination in Nigeria starts today in 21 states and will last for a week. This is for young girls aged 9–14 years to prevent cervical cancer and safeguard their future.”

She pointed out that conventional evaluations do not capture a child’s creativity, and explained that the competition was initiated to allow children to showcase the significance of immunization through artistic expression.

The doctor emphasized that the children utilized their creativity to illustrate the importance of health and wellness through their captivating artwork. Regarding ways to alter the current situation and boost immunization rates, Ekure emphasized that immunization is a collective responsibility.

She highlighted that the government, caregivers, healthcare professionals, the community, religious figures, and traditional leaders all have a part to play.

“Healthcare workers need to learn to treat caregivers decently and politely when they come for immunisation. They should also do things promptly so that people don’t have to waste all day waiting for the immunisation.

Everyone must be an immunization champion. Let’s keep making lots of noise about immunisation. We all need to put our hands on deck to reduce this abysmally low rate of immunisation optics,” she emphasized.

In her presentation titled, “Facts in Immunisation”, a paediatrician neonatologist and associate professor of paediatrics at the College of Medicine University of Lagos, Dr Iretiola Fajuolu,  described immunisation as God’s gift to man.

“It is our corporate social responsibility and it is a way of getting ourselves protected from harmful disease. Immunization is a very viable tool to prevent infectious diseases. Vaccines have been made available for over thirty diseases, which are infectious diseases and what vaccines do.

“Our indexes are still very low. Ignorance is one major reason why our people do not go for vaccinations. We need all hands on deck to educate people. We need the media to educate Nigerians on the importance of immunisation.

“The government is doing a lot to make these vaccines available in conjunction with global partners who have vaccines available. The vaccines are expensive but some people have paid for them, it is a shame that we will have these vaccines and they are not being utilised, especially because the diseases that these vaccines protect against are deadly, they are the major killers of children. This year we have asked children to do artwork related to immunisation.”