UNICEF Raises Awareness On Out-of-School, Zero Immunised Children

By Ridwanullahi Odofin

As part of efforts to reduce out-of-school and zero immunised children in the country, the United Nations Children Fund, UNICEF, has organised a 2-day media dialogue for journalists in four selected states on the need to intensify awareness to address the issue.

The event, which was organised by the UNICEF Kaduna Field office, drawn participants from Kaduna, Niger, Nasarawa, and Kwara State.

The event also aimed at expanding media buy-in at all levels to strengthen terms of engagement to promote reporting and broadcasting of health and education programmes as it relates to these issues.

Speaking on the overview of Primary Health Care across the four states, a UNICEF Health Specialist, Dr. Sule Meleh, charged the media personnel to raise awareness that will trigger stakeholders and government responses to address the issues.

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This, according to him, can be achieved through news and programme contents tailored towards maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria.

Highlighting the essence of the media dialogue, Meleh emphasised the role of the media as partners in progress in UNICEF’s intervention in health and education.

He further identified the challenges confronting pregnant women right from antenatal and postnatal stages and also provided possible ways to address them.

Also speaking, the Kaduna State Education Officer, Primary Health Care Development Agency, Isa Yusha’u said the programme would impact positively on improving maternal, newborn, and child health across the four states.

On his part, UNICEF Education Officer, Kaduna Field office, Bala Dada, stressed that the engagement was to provide the journalists with the needed information on the programmes that the UNICEF runs alongside the government.

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He noted that UNICEF are working directly with the state government to focus on various interventions in the state, particularly the out-of-school and zero immunised children, which they key into.

According to him, “In Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger and Kwara State, we work with the government as well as other education sector players to roll out intervention aimed at reducing the upsurge.”

“The engagement we are having with the media across the states is to let them know what exactly we are doing, how we are doing it, and what we are trying to achieve.

“We all need to have proper data on where the out-of-school children are located in our communities. When we do this, all the interventions by the development partners and the government will be more targeted, and better results will be achieved.

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In his own words, the Director of Planning, Kaduna State Ministry of Education, Salisu Lawal, who stressed the challenges in the education sector which could be heavily reduced by the media, emphasised the importance of the programme.

Lawal, while describing the media as critical stakeholders in awareness creation, said they are also critical in influencing government policies.

Highpoint of the event was the development of a communique by the group to amplify and reduce out-of-school and zero immunised children, paper presentation by expert in the key areas, and group presentations by the participants.