By Ojoma Akor
Law makers at federal and state levels have pledged to support efforts geared towards reaching zero dose children and closing immunization gaps in the country,.
This was part of their resolutions in a communique issued after a two day legislative retreat in Lagos state on zero dose learning hub project for members of states assembly, and heads of primary health care development agencies from Bauchi, Borno , Kano and Sokoto states.
It was themed “Legislative Partnerships for Reaching Zero-Dose Children in Nigeria,” and organized under the auspices of the Zero Dose Learning Hub (ZDLH) initiative and the Africa Health Budget Network (AHBN).
The retreat brought together key stakeholders including members of the national assembly, state Houses of assembly (Health and Appropriation Committees) from Bauchi, Borno, Kano, and Sokoto States, and chief executive officers of the respective state primary healthcare development agencies/boards.
The objectives of the retreat were:
-To assess the implementation progress and performance of the Zero Dose Learning Hub (ZDLH) across core thematic areas: Promoting country learning on Identify, Reach, Measure, Monitor and Advocate (IRMMA) strategy, capacity building as well as advocacy and stakeholder engagement.
-To facilitate high-level dialogue with national and state legislators, as well as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of State Primary Healthcare Development Agencies/Boards (SPHDAs/SPHCDBs), on emerging priorities, challenges, and strategic opportunities for reaching zero-dose and under-immunized children.
-And to support state legislators in co-developing actionable policy and funding resolutions that directly contribute to addressing immunization gaps in zero-dose LGAs and missed communities.
In the communique signed by the Chairman House Committee on Health Care Services, National Assembly, Amos Gwamna Magaji, the participants said there is no routine immunization budget line in some states of the federation, despite being key to ensuring sustainable immunization financing.
They said there were many barriers for uptake of immunization services by parents and care givers of children across the four ZDLH project states of Bauchi, Borno, Kano and Sokoto.
They also said there were no governing boards of state primary health care development agencies/boards in some of the ZDLH project states, noting that this is important in ensuring smooth governance and coordination of all primary health care activities including immunizations.
Some of the resolutions at the Lagos meeting include :
-That the Chairman House Committee on Health, National Assembly, Amos Gwamna Magaji convenes a meeting with all Chairmen House Committees on Health from the states assemblies and key stakeholders from all 36 states in Abuja by Q3/Q4 2025. The Nigerian ZDLH consortium will participate in the meeting.
-The Chairman House Committee on Health of the National Assembly would advocate for the creation of the budget line for immunization in 2026 budget across the states.
-The Chairman House Committee on Health to organize a visit to all the four ZDLH project states starting from Borno in July to conduct oversight functions on BHCPF, Health MoU counterpart funding etc.
-The Chairmen House Committees on Health from all ZDLH project states would convene a meeting and provide feedback from ZDLH survey findings with LGAs Chairmen, and their corresponding members of the state houses of assembly.
-The states assembly through the House Committees on Health pledged to ensure that all primary health care development agencies/boards take ownership of the Decentralized Immunization Monitoring (DIM) surveys.
-The health committee members to participate actively in all PHC and immunization activities.
The House Committee on Health in all states should encourage motivation and accountability mechanism for immunization
legislators will convene a quarterly oversight functions to health agencies and health facilities.
-The Health Committee to facilitate timely release of PHC and Immunization funds approved by the council to Ministries, Department and Agencies MDAs).
