The governments of Gombe and Taraba states have been called upon to honor their co-financing commitments and provide the necessary infrastructure and resources to sustain the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) earlier signed with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).

It would be recalled that in 2022, UNICEF and GAVI, with support from the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF), entered into an agreement aimed at strengthening health systems in eight states, including Gombe and Taraba.

The MoU, as gathered by The Guardian, is targeted at boosting child immunisation rates, aiming for 85% of children to be fully immunised by 2024. It also seeks to enhance governance, accountability, and service delivery within Primary Health Care (PHC) programs in these states.

The call for Gombe and Taraba to fulfill their obligations under the MoU was made by the Chief of UNICEF, Bauchi Field Office, Dr. Nuzhat Rafique, at a two-day media dialogue on Strengthening Primary Health Care in the aforementioned states.

The exercise, which took place in the Evolution Hotel in Gombe State, as noted by our state correspondent, brought together media practitioners from the two aforementioned states, as well as from the nearby Bauchi State.

Emphasizing the importance of state governments’ role in ensuring the success of the health initiative, the PHC MoU model, as announced by her, has recorded significant gains in Gombe and Taraba, hence the need to sustain the progress.

The Chief of Bauchi Field Office, who also announced that during the three-year implementation of the MoU in Gombe and Taraba states, notable achievements have been recorded, said the availability of vaccines at the last mile has improved, resulting in fewer vaccine stock-outs at service points.

Gombe State, as made known by her, has also seen a boost in skilled birth attendants at Primary Health Care facilities, following the recruitment of 440 health workers.

Key infrastructural improvements, such as the renovation of health facilities and the provision of solar equipment at local government cold stores, she said, have also been made.

Other achievements said to have been recorded since the signing of the MoU, as recounted by her, include effective leadership and coordination through a functional State Taskforce, an increase in routine immunisation outreach sessions, and a significant reduction in the number of children with zero doses of vaccines in Taraba, from 24% to 4%.

“Other accomplishments include an increase in skilled birth attendant coverage in Taraba, from 11% to 24%, and the provision of vehicles for vaccine distribution and supervisory support. Gombe State has enrolled 10,000 beneficiaries into its health insurance scheme,” Dr. Nuzhat stated.

As the MoU enters its final year, stakeholders who threw their weight in support of the Bauchi Field Office, as noted by The Guardian, are presently calling for renewed efforts to ensure that all planned activities are completed on time to achieve the overall objectives.