Some 600,000 children have not been immunised against childhood killer diseases in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa States.
The united Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chief of Kano Field Office, Rahama Farah, made this known during a press conference on the UNICEF State of the World Children (SOWC) 2023.
During the press conference, held in Kano, UNICEF Communication Specialist, Samuel Kaalu, called on caregivers to embrace immunisation, as it has been proven to be essential and cost effective to preventing diseases and as well reduce childhood killer diseases.
Speaking on ‘Immunisation and Zero Dose‘ situation in Kano Field Office states, Chief of Kano Field Office Rahama Farah said Kano has the highest number with over 300,000 of the children out of the total number which represents 55 per cent.
Farah said the children are scattered across 46 local government areas, with majority of those affected in Kano.
UNICEF Health Specialist, Abimbola Aman-Olaniyo, said children who are not immunised are vulnerable to preventable diseases and prone to outbreaks as she linked the situation to the recent Diphtheria outbreak in Kano State and Cerebrospinal meningitis in Jigawa State.
She said the fund plans to reach 250,985 children in Kano, 154,768 and 94,060 children in Katsina and Jigawa states respectively for the year 2023 to reduce the zero dose children.
