NPHCDA Seeks Increased Local Funding For Vaccines

The National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) is seeking increased local funding to sustain immunization in the country as international donors withdraw support.

The Executive Secretary of agency, Dr Ado Mohammed, at a meeting with stakeholders in the health sector, said that Nigeria has been de-listed from the list of countries benefiting from international donor agencies after the economy was re-based in 2015.

Chairman National Immunization Financing Task Team, Ben Anyene, also explained that it costs about 14,000 Naira to fully immunize a child but only 25% of this cost is financed by the Nigerian government.

International donor agencies account for about 75% of total financing for vaccines used for immunization in Nigeria.

Routine immunization has helped Nigeria to reduce the spread of vaccine preventable diseases in recent times.

For instance, no new case of polio has been recorded in the last 20 months as the World Health Organization removed Nigeria from the list of polio endemic nations.

Nigeria and a few other developing countries have benefited from international support for effective immunization since the year 2000.

Conveners of the meeting agreed that it has become important to develop a sustainable local funding mechanism for immunization as international donor agencies withdraw their supports.