The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Thursday said that over 600,000 children were not immunized against childhood killer diseases in Kano, Katsina and Jigawa states.
The UNICEF Chief of the Kano Field Office, Rahama Farah, who disclosed this during a media briefing on the UNICEF State of the World Children’s (SOWC) 2023: Immunization and Zero Dose situation in Kano Field Office states, said Kano had the highest number with over 300,000 children of the figure (55%).
He said the organization was concerned about the situation because immunization “is the basic fundamental child rights in terms of having access to immunization services. We know that globally, children are dying because they don’t have access to preventable diseases vaccination. And this is a major concern for us in Nigeria and Kano in particular.”
Similarly, the UNICEF Health Specialist, Abimbola Aman-Olaniyo, said children not immunized were vulnerable to preventable diseases and prone to outbreaks, citing the Diphtheria outbreak in Kano and Cerebrospinal meningitis in Jigawa.
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She said the fund planned to reach 250,985 children in Kano as well as 154,768 and 94,060 children in Katsina and Jigawa states, respectively for the year 2023 to reduce the zero-dose children.
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