ACCOUNTABILITY FRAMEWORK FOR ROUTINE IMMUNIZATION IN NIGERIA. MARCH 11TH 2013 In the next two years Nigeria will take stock of where she stands on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), unfortunately Nigeria is still off-track on these goals. Although the country has made some progress in MDG4 in the last two decades, reducing under-5 mortality at an average annual rate reduction of 2%, in order to meet MDG4, under-5 mortality must be cut in half in the next two years, from the current rate of 143 to the target rate of 71 deaths/1000 live births. Setbacks triggered the government and partners to seek a game-changing approach in transforming the way things are done, to ensure plans translate into actions and actions into results. From below 30% in 2002, routine immunization coverage improved to 69% in 2010. These gains were lost resulting in 47% coverage in 2011 and 41% in 2012. The country has never achieved its national target of 75-85%. A task team headed by Preston Healthcare consulting was inaugurated by the Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), who considers Accountability a “game-changer” to develop an Accountability Framework for Routine Immunization in Nigeria (AFRIN). The team comprised of the NPHCDA, Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Communicable Disease Center (CDC), Solina Health, Johns Hopkins IVAC, The Nigerian Governors Forum Secretariat (NGFS) and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI). An Accountability Framework would allow for goal directed expenditure, result-based performance monitoring, re-defined roles and responsibilities, synergistic alignment of resources, transparent reporting and data management, as well as mutual consensus on pre-determined consequences for falling short of articulated targets and a comprehensive immunization system processes taking vaccines from the manufacturer to the mother and child was mapped out. (For more information, contact Preston Healthcare Consulting Ltd)
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 15:48:25 +0000