FG need to increase funding for immunization - Yusuf

            

The Executive Director, Niger State Primary Health Care Development Agency, Salisu Yusuf, said that without an increase in government funding for vaccines, the less-privileged in the society would be denied access to immunisation services due to inability to pay.

Yusuf said this on Monday during a one-day interactive on Africa Vaccine Week, organised by the Community Health and Research Initiative, in partnership with NSPHCDA, in Minna, said, “By 2020, it will cost about N9,000 per year to vaccinate a child with current and proposed new vaccines. Government’s share of the vaccine programme costs in 2015 is about N21 bn. This is expected to rise to N37bn in 2016 and then N68bn by 2020.

Punch reports that, in a presentation on Routine Immunisation Issues and Finances, he said:

“In 2013, it was estimated that more than 800,000 children under the age of five died, and most of the leading causes of child deaths, which include malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, injury, meningitis and measles, are vaccine preventable.

“Adding vaccines into the current RI schedule can save an additional 1.2 million lives between 2015 and 2020. By preventing diseases and deaths, vaccines save money from treatment cost, lost income and productivity loss.

“Investing to raise coverage of new vaccines to 90 percent could yield N3trn in economic gains for the Nigerian economy.”

 “Irrespective of the gains, Nigeria’s under-five mortality rate is 128 deaths per 1,000 live births. This implies that one in every eight children dies before their fifth birthday,” he said.