Ogunniyi Tolulope Joseph
Department of Medical Laboratory Science Kwara State University Malete Kwara Nigeria.
Health Sci Rep. 2024 Aug 20;7(8):e70000. doi: 10.1002/hsr2.70000. eCollection 2024 Aug.
Nigeria adopted the expanded program on immunization (EPI) in 1978, which aimed at offering children under 2 years old routine immunization (RI). Early accomplishments with the program resulted in a decrease in childhood mortality. As of 2018, Nigeria accounted for about 4.3 million out of over 13 million unvaccinated children globally. Therefore, this study revealed the challenges and efforts associated with RI program in Nigeria and the way forward.
In this perspective article, I conducted searches and extracted relevant information from publicly available sources such as Google Scholar, Pubmed, and grey literature. I employed RI, challenges, efforts, and Nigeria as the keywords.
The 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey/National Immunization Coverage Survey reports revealed weaknesses in the program, with a national average coverage of 36%. The primary barrier to EPI across various zones is the challenge of reaching marginalized areas that were cut off from vaccination services due to operational and sociocultural issues. Some of the obstacles, such as restricted access to medical facilities, weak cold chain systems, and COVID-19 containment strategies had a great impact on the RI program. To scale up the RI program, the Nigerian government, through the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), collaborated with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to optimize the "Big Catch-up campaign" and increase immunization coverage nationwide. By 2028, 80% of the projected zero-dose populace is expected to be covered, reaching these eligible children with life-saving vaccines.
Nigeria still has a long way to go in making significant progress in the RI program. To further strengthen the immunization coverage, the country needs to maintain data on their achievements, as this will help identify gaps that need to be addressed in the immunization program.
尼日利亚于1978年采用了扩大免疫规划（EPI），旨在为2岁以下儿童提供常规免疫（RI）。该计划早期取得的成果使儿童死亡率有所下降。截至2018年，在全球超过1300万未接种疫苗的儿童中，尼日利亚约占430万。因此，本研究揭示了尼日利亚常规免疫计划相关的挑战和努力以及未来的方向。
在这篇观点文章中，我从谷歌学术、PubMed等公开可用资源以及灰色文献中进行搜索并提取相关信息。我使用“常规免疫”“挑战”“努力”和“尼日利亚”作为关键词。
2021年多指标类集调查/国家免疫覆盖率调查报告显示该计划存在薄弱环节，全国平均覆盖率为36%。各地区扩大免疫规划的主要障碍是难以覆盖因操作和社会文化问题而无法获得疫苗接种服务的边缘化地区。一些障碍，如获得医疗设施的机会有限、冷链系统薄弱以及新冠疫情防控策略，对常规免疫计划产生了重大影响。为扩大常规免疫计划，尼日利亚政府通过国家初级卫生保健发展局（NPHCDA）与世界卫生组织（WHO）和疫苗免疫全球联盟（Gavi）合作，优化“大规模追赶运动”并提高全国免疫覆盖率。到2028年，预计80%的预计零剂次人群将得到覆盖，为这些符合条件的儿童接种救命疫苗。
尼日利亚在常规免疫计划方面要取得重大进展仍有很长的路要走。为进一步加强免疫覆盖率，该国需要记录其成就数据，因为这将有助于确定免疫计划中需要解决的差距。
