Zamfara Steps Up Efforts to Ensure No Child Misses Vaccination

The Zamfara State Government has intensified efforts to improve routine immunisation and ensure that every eligible child receives life-saving vaccines.

Deputy Incident Manager of the Polio Emergency Operations Centre in Zamfara State, Dr Jamil Bawa, stated this during the onboarding of routine immunisation service providers under the Z-TRACE project in Gusau.

Dr Bawa said the initiative was designed to identify zero-dose and under-immunised children, enrol them in routine immunisation programmes and ensure they received the required vaccines.


He stressed the need for health workers, development partners and other stakeholders to work together to address challenges affecting routine immunisation across the state.

According to him, the project would also strengthen follow-up mechanisms to ensure that children receive their vaccines throughout the immunisation schedule.

Dr Bawa emphasised the importance of accurate data collection and documentation at health facilities, local government and state levels to improve coordination and track immunisation progress.

He expressed confidence that the project would improve immunisation coverage, adding that, the participating health workers had demonstrated their willingness to support the initiative.


On concerns about the commitment of some health workers, particularly in areas with high numbers of zero-dose children, Dr Bawa said the major challenge was accountability rather than financial motivation.

He explained that, the state government had reviewed the salaries of health workers and taken steps to improve their welfare, stressing that stronger monitoring and accountability mechanisms were needed to ensure effective service delivery.

Dr Jamilu Bawa said measures would be introduced to monitor the performance of health workers and address cases of negligence in accordance with established procedures.

He added that, his responsibility as Deputy Incident Manager included providing technical support to the state and local government areas, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, to interrupt polio transmission and improve routine immunisation.

The training was organised by the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development in collaboration with the Zamfara State Primary Health Care Development Board while the project is being funded by GAVI.

The participants are from Zurmi local government area of the state.




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