Nigeria at risk of vaccines stock-out
If urgent measures are not taken to mobilise adequate funding for vaccines as donor support declines, Nigeria will be at risk of running out of vaccines this year.
In its bid to ensure continuous availability of vaccines and uninterrupted access to immunization services, the Advocacy Subcommittee of the National Immunization Financing Task Team (NIFT) at the end of a one-day workshop held in Kaduna recently made useful recommendations for government’s attention.
The group called on the National Assembly to approve the total sum of N7,651,209,498 and N4,859,785,272 for vaccines procurement and the Polio Eradication Initiative respectively, as allocated in the 2017 budget proposal.
The immunization advocates support the Federal Government plan to pursue additional $125 million loans from the World Bank for immunization financing in 2017; as a temporary measure to bridge the existing funding gap and avoid a further outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases.
The communique issued at the end of the workshop stated that the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) should extract the vaccine financing sustainability plan as contained in the Gavi Country Engagement Framework (CEF) and share with advocates when finalized.
Other resolutions at the workshop include, “That FMOH should work with NIFT and other advocates to develop innovative sustainable resource mobilization strategies in line with the newly developed National Health Financing Policy, and engage the private sector including religious institutions.
“That FMOH through NPHCDA should make quarterly presentations at the Core Group and Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee (ICC) as well as produce publications of immunization financing outlook including budget release and expenditure on their websites to promote transparency and ensure availability of data for use by advocates.”
The communiqué also states that NIFT and partners should continue to support NPHCDA to conclude the ongoing review of the EPI Comprehensive Multi-Year Plan (cMYP 2016-2020) within the next 2 weeks.
It urged the federal government should take ownership and lead the development of sustainable immunization financing mechanism and review the implementation of the above recommendations on a quarterly basis.
Immunization is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions ever known to mankind, saving about 2 – 3 million lives yearly. It has contributed significantly to the reduction in infant and child mortality over the past couple of decades. A 2016 study by researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health assessed 94 low and middle-income countries and found that vaccinations saved $16-$44 for every dollar invested spent.
Since 2001, the federal government and Gavi have been the main sources of secured funding for the immunization programme.
However, Nigeria is no longer eligible for the Gavi support as its Gross National Income has exceeded the $1,580 threshold. Consequently, there will be a progressive reduction in Gavi’s contribution while there will also be a quantum jump in government funding from 2022.
