Guinea, South Sudan Seek Nigeria's Expertise On Childhood Vaccination
Delegations from Guinea and South Sudan are in Nigeria to learn from the country's vaccine program, with a focus on the introduction of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine PCV and the rotavirus vaccine for childhood immunisation.
The four-day peer learning and capacity-building workshop, titled Promoting Rotavirus Vaccine and PCV for Enhanced Childhood Immunisation and Safety, is facilitated by the Vaccine Network for Disease Control VNDC in Abuja.
The World Health Organisation WHO estimates that 215,000 children die annually from rotavirus-associated diarrheal diseases, with the majority of these deaths occurring in low-income countries like Guinea, Chad, Somalia, and South Sudan.
The introduction of PCV and the rotavirus vaccine is seen as a critical intervention to reduce child mortality from pneumonia and rotavirus, two of the leading causes of preventable deaths in children.
The peer learning programme aims to foster knowledge sharing and collaboration between from Nigeria, Guinea, and South Sudan. Nigeria's vaccine program is being used as a model to help these nations introduce and scale up PCV and rotavirus vaccines in their national immunisation schedules.
According to VNDC, Nigeria have successfully introduced both PCV and the rotavirus vaccine into its national immunisation schedule. The CSOs from these countries will collaborate with their Nigerian counterparts to develop comprehensive strategies for vaccine introduction, advocacy, and scale-up, drawing on Nigeria's challenges and successes.
Abdoulaye Djenab Camara, the CEO of Reseau Afrique Jeunesse de Guinee RAJ-GUI and the program manager of RASGI, the African Youth Network of Guinea highlighted that meningitis and diarrhoea are major causes of child mortality in Guinea, despite the availability of highly effective vaccines. He decried that Guinea is one of the few countries that has not yet included the PCV and rotavirus vaccines in its routine immunization schedule.
He said he is currently in Nigeria with other NGOs and partner organizations from Guinea to engage with Nigerian partners to develop advocacy strategies for introducing the PCV and rotavirus vaccines in Guinea.
The goal of their advocacy efforts is to push for the introduction of these vaccines in Guinea. Camara said the delegation also aims to learn from the experiences of their Nigerian partners and organize advocacy sessions and meetings with key stakeholders in Guinea, including health and government authorities, to promote the integration of these important vaccines into the country's healthcare system.
Chika Offor, CEO of VNDC, emphasized the significance of this partnership, stating, "Our sister countries, Guinea and South Sudan, are looking to introduce the rotavirus and PCV vaccines. Nigeria has successfully done this, and we are here to share how it was achieved, the strategies that worked, and the role CSOs can play in supporting government efforts."
Offor further explained that the workshop will examine the challenges Nigeria faced during its vaccine roll-out, as well as the successes so that Guinea and South Sudan can build on these achievements and avoid the pitfalls Nigeria encountered.
"Guinea and South Sudan have not formally introduced the rotavirus vaccine but Nigeria has. And because we have done it successfully, we're going to look at the challenges that Nigeria faced when we introduced those two vaccines and vaccines in general.
"We're going to also look at the successes that we've had, build on those successes, stop doing the things that we didn't do well, so that by the time Guinea and South Sudan are doing that, they can work on our successes and do away with things that are not successful", she said.
The peer learning program had in attendance representatives from GAVI, the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, UNICEF, the Embassies of South Sudan and Guinea, the World Health Organisation, among others.