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DAILY COURIER

 

David Arin – A report, Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) 2021 has revealed that Ebonyi State has the highest percentage of children have received vaccination with 100 percent of children in the state vaccinated against childhood illnesses in the last five years.

 

The report also showed that Enugu state followed with the smallest proportions of children who did not receive any vaccination at one percent and percent respectively.

 

This means that Enugu and Ebonyi states have 99 per cent and 100 percent child vaccination coverage respectively

 

While Sokoto ranks least on the index with 49 percent vaccination rate. This implies that 51 percent of children in the Sokoto state have not been vaccinated against childhood illnesses in the last five years.

 

However, there is a relative decrease of 55 percent from five years ago, in the number of children (12-23 months) who did not receive any vaccination.

 

On birth registration, the report revealed that Jigawa and Sokoto states have the lowest statistics at 23.6 per cent and 22.5 percent respectively.

 

This means that 76.4 per cent of children in Jigawa State and 77.5 percent of children in Sokoto State are not registered at birth.

 

The report also showed that Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are the most improved states in birth registration with 94 per cent and 87 percent respectively.

 

Analysing the data yesterday at a two-day media dialogue, organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture in Port Harcourt, chief of M4R, UNICEF, Claes Johanson, said there are a lot of factors to why Sokoto and Jigawa states have low birth registration but said that they do not have all the answers.

 

He said the survey is a snapshot of all the progress, saying that UNICEF, the government and the media need to understand the ‘why’ of the situation.

 

Johanson, however, noted that some states have made a lot of progress including Kebbi State which has moved from 11 percent in 2016 to 55 percent in 2021. This progress, according to him, calls for celebration.