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Special Report: Inside fragile chain holding Kano, Gombe’s immunisation systems together
🇳🇬 Nigeria /Health & Science

Special Report: Inside fragile chain holding Kano, Gombe’s immunisation systems together

From Premium Times · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Context piece
  • Community mobilizers like Uma Usman are crucial in Nigeria's Kano and Gombe states for ensuring children complete routine immunizations, often overcoming access barriers for families.
  • While vaccines are generally available, the primary challenge is ensuring consistent follow-up visits, as families face obstacles like distance, transport costs, and work demands.
  • Nigeria has a significant number of "zero-dose" children, and many who start the vaccination schedule fail to complete it, impacting public health despite improvements in coverage.

Under the oppressive April sun in Fagge Local Government Area, Kano State, 56-year-old Uma Usman diligently moves from compound to compound. She's not a government employee, yet she serves as a vital link in the community's immunization system, tracking down children who have missed their routine appointments. "I know the community very well, so I follow them house by house," Mrs. Usman told PREMIUM TIMES. "If the parents don’t come, we check the register and trace the households."

Mrs. Usman's work highlights a reality uncovered by a PREMIUM TIMES investigation in Kano and Gombe states: the main obstacle to routine immunization isn't vaccine shortages, but rather ensuring children complete their scheduled doses. For many families, the barriers are not about acceptance but access. Long distances to health facilities, the cost of transportation, delayed outreach efforts, and the daily struggle for survival often disrupt the necessary follow-up visits. Consequently, many children receive their initial vaccine but never get the full protection needed.

I know the community very well, so I follow them house by house. If the parents don’t come, we check the register and trace the households.

— Uma UsmanUma Usman, a community mobilizer, explained her method for ensuring children receive immunizations.

This challenge has significant public health implications. According to UNICEF, Nigeria has one of the world's largest populations of "zero-dose" children – those who have never received any routine vaccine. Current data indicates that only about 67% of infants receive the third dose of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP3) vaccine, and measles vaccine coverage is around 35%. While routine immunization coverage has seen improvements, a substantial number of children remain unvaccinated or incomplete their schedules.

The investigation, spanning 2023 to 2026, involved field visits, interviews, and analysis of official records and data from health authorities and development partners. It examined the ongoing efforts to reach both unvaccinated children and those who start but do not finish their vaccination series. Mrs. Usman's weekly encounters with families underscore the thousands of individual stories behind these national statistics, revealing the complex interplay of socioeconomic factors and healthcare access that affects childhood immunization in Nigeria.

When you reach a house, you find it is not that they don’t want to come. Something just stood in the way.

— Uma UsmanMrs. Usman described the common reasons families miss vaccination appointments.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Premium Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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