Osogbo, Osun, 27 November 2015: Policy makers in Osun, Oyo, Ondo and Ekiti states have pledged their direct engagement and oversight to strengthen routine immunization in the South West zone, following a report of a vaccine derived polio virus (VDPV) case in Osun state in November 2015.

Only recently during an official visit to Nigeria, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa mentioned to His Excellency President Muhammadu Buhari “It is important that routine immunization be strengthened in recognition of its importance as a public health tool for protecting against other vaccine preventable diseases. Routine immunization services delivery should also be used an entry point for strengthening health systems in the country”.

States in the south west zone were hitherto considered as low risk due to high immunization coverage. Furthermore, an average of 24 million children 0-59 months of age was vaccinated with oral polio vaccine (OPV) during each supplemental immunization activity (SIA) in the southern states in early 2015. 

However, analysis of routine immunization data at the national level in 2015 showed that between January and September 2015, 72,643 children, representing 10% of the 710,643 eligible children for vaccination in the four states were un-immunized.

Urgent call for action:

Following the laboratory notification of the VDPV case in Osun on 5 November 2015, the National Polio Emergency Operations Center), with technical and financial assistance from WHO, supported the zone to immediately conduct a detailed case investigation and risk analysis which informed the SIA response from 14 to 17 November, 2015 to quickly prevent re-establishment of poliovirus transmission in these polio-free states.

In Osun, the Deputy Governor Mrs Laoye Tomori, who pledged overall direction and strategic planning for immunization, assured the State Task Force on Immunization that “government is highly responsive to the health care needs of the people of Osun State and will ensure vaccines availability and adequate cold chain maintenance at all health facilities despite paucity of funds”. She vowed that government will utilize the available data to urgently identify immunity gaps and provide services to the communities to bridge the gaps.

Mrs Tomori requested all stakeholders to continue sensitizing communities and market women on Immunization and ensuring a hygienic environment.

Intensified community mobilization:

Delivering his speech in one of the communities in Ondo state, the Commissioner for Health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, appealed to the paramount leaders and religious leaders to mobilize their followers for the response activities. Dr Adeyanju applauded the efforts of WHO in supporting the response stating that “we should not allow all the resources being expended by WHO to be wasted and allow our children to be paralyzed hence the need to mobilize the community for the immunization".

Performing his first official duty, the newly appointed Ogun State Commissioner for Health, Dr Babatunde chaired a Town Hall meeting  in Ijebu North  to create awareness for the success of the response and charged religious and traditional leaders, and market women to be agents of change in their respective communities.

Similar activities were conducted by the Commissioners for Health in neighbouring Ekiti and Oyo states.

Partnership and outcome of VDPV case response:

The VDPV response was supported by a robust partnership which was spearheaded by the National EOC and State Government authorities with World Health Organization, UNICEF, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Rotary International.  

Preliminary results of the first round of response activities conducted in 66 local government areas (LGAs) of the four states indicate that 2,887,360 (114% of the targeted 2,528,986 children) were  vaccinated with tOPV. Survey results indicated that 92% of selected LGAs in the four target states achieved more than 80% coverage.

_________________________________________________

For more information, please contact:

Technical contacts:

Dr Fiona Braka; Tel: +234 703 170 5252; Email:  brakaf [at] who.int (brakaf[at]who[dot]int)
Dr Wale Famiyesin: +234 802 309 4026; Email:  famiyesinw [at] who.int (famiyesinw[at]who[dot]int)
Media contact:

Ms  Charity Warigon; Tel: +234 810 221 0093; Email:  warigonc [at] who.int (warigonc[at]who[dot]int)