By Ndidi Chukwu & Peter Daniel
A group of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) has called on the Nigerian Federal Government to include information of funds for immunization it received from international community in the national budget.
The Country Director of One Campaign, Dr. Edwin Ikhuoria, who made the call in Abuja during a Media parley, said the information strengthen accountability and transparency in utilization of Routine Immunization funds in the country.
He said the CSOs working in Nigeria have observed that a lot of funds are been given to support the Nigerian government in implementing its immunization activities, but much account is not given on how those funds were used.
The media parley which was convened by Vaccine Network in collaboration with Immunization Partners, a group supported by the Community Health and Research Initiative (CHR) to support sustainable immunization financing, targeted at encouraging the Federal government to take up full responsibility for vaccine financing.
Dr. Ikhuoria said: :Donor funds are not captured in national budget, there is need for the public and the CSOs working in Nigeria to know about funds coming in and how they are spent, we want more money for health and more health for money.”
He said Nigerian government must fund immunization to prevent loss of lives, adding that the reasons most children die are preventable; saying if funds are made available for immunization most under-five children’s deaths will be averted.
The Head of Advocacy at DCL/IVAC, Dr Laz Ude Eze, said Nigeria is required to commit $181 million for vaccine procurement for 2017 and 2018 and should be made available in the 2017 budget.
Dr. Eze said the federal government have to plan to fund its immunization activities in the country.
He said: “Immunization is the most cost-effective way of preventing under-five deaths, it is more expensive responding to disease outbreak than prevention, we need the Nigerian government to understand this and make funds available”
The Director of Vaccine Network, Mrs. Chika Offor, said the country’s birth cohort keeps increasing and over 7 million children will need vaccine every year in the country.
She called for improved funding to guarantee access to vaccines.
