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A five-day maternal and neonatal immunization exercise has been inaugurated across the 16 Local Government Areas of Kwara State.
The exercise is being done by United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, in partnership with Kwara State Government and other stakeholders.
In an address at the ceremony, UNICEF’s Nutrition Specialist, Kaduna field office, Mrs. Chinwe Ezeife, explained that the programme aimed to improve the healthcare of newborns, pregnant women, and the girlchild.
Mrs Ezeife explained that children would receive necessary nutrients and vitamins, deworming drugs, food supplements, while girls between ages nine to fourteen would be administered Human Papillomavirus, HPV vaccine against cervical cancer.
Kwara State Nutrition Officer, Dr. Olugbenga Bankole, affirmed that the programme would increase access to low-cost, high-impact interventions that save the lives of women and children, increase demand for health services at primary healthcare facilities and improve coverage of interventions across all Local Government Areas.
Dr Bankole pointed out that the choice of a primary school as the venue for the flag-off ceremony was strategic, as the target age group for the HPV vaccine begins from 9 years.
In a remark, Country Director of Vitamin Angels, Dr. Francis Ohanyido, who expressed concern about the nutrition of children and pregnant women, emphasized the importance of hygiene to the growth of children.
Dr Ohanyido thereafter presented Vitamin A supplements, multiple micronutrients for pregnant women, and albendazole for deworming.
By Muinat Usman
