Expert Lists Constraints To Immunisation Campaigns

The Enugu State Immunisation Officer, Dr Uche Okenwa, has said that inadequate funding is the major constraint to immunisation campaigns in the state.

Okenwa told newsmen in Enugu that religious beliefs and hard-to-reach-areas were the other factors impeding the exercise in the state.

“Local government chairmen are supposed to support the campaigns by providing funds and supervising the exercise but they are not doing that.

“Some parents prevent their children from being immunised. Some of them claim that their beliefs do not accept administering drugs. This stops us from doing our work effectively,’’ Okenwa said.

He said that the recent immunisation in the area, which lasted between April 30 and May 4, recorded a huge success in many local government areas, except Nsukka Local Government Area.

The officer said the ministry had planned a one-day mop-up campaign in Nsukka to cover the large number of residents in the area.

“We are going to do a one-day mop-up immunisation in Nsukka because it is a large area. Covering Nsukka in five days may not be feasible,’’ he said.

Okenwa said the ministry of health targeted immunising no fewer than 679,698 children in the Integrated Measles Campaign (IMC) and 775,220 children in the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).

“We have not been able to put together how many children we immunised but we will do that at the end of the mop-up exercise in Nsukka,’’ he said.