Z-TRACE: Sultan Foundation Trains RI Service Providers To Tackle Zero-Dose Children In Zamfara

Z-TRACE: Sultan Foundation Trains RI Service Providers To Tackle Zero-Dose Children In Zamfara

By Sadiq Martins, Gusau

The Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development has called for stronger collaboration among routine immunisation (RI) service providers, Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and partners to ensure zero-dose and under-immunised children receive life-saving vaccines in Zamfara State.

The Foundation’s Head of Programme in Zamfara, Jamilu Sarkin-Gulbi, made the call during a one-day onboarding meeting for routine immunisation service providers organised to support the Zamfara Tracking and Accountability for Equitable Immunisation (Z-TRACE) project.

Zamfara faces a substantial zero-dose burden with an estimated 269,241 affected children concentrated across seven local government areas in the state.

The children located in underserved settlements, hard-to-reach communities and populations facing social, geographic and health system barriers are most affected.

The Sultan Foundation, with funding support from the GAVI CSO Fund Mechanism, is targeting 30 per cent of the zero-dose children, representing 80,772 children in seven priority LGAs in the state.

Sarkin-Gulbi said the initiative was designed to address gaps in immunisation coverage by improving the identification, vaccination and tracking of children who had either not received any routine vaccines or had yet to complete their immunisation schedules.

The Programme Manager identified inaccurate data, difficulties in reaching some communities and weak linkages between health facilities, immunisation service providers and community structures as some of the challenges preventing eligible children from accessing routine immunisation services.

According to him, the success of the Z-TRACE project depends largely on effective coordination between community-based organisations, community mobilisers and routine immunisation service providers.

He said that while CBOs and mobilisers would identify zero-dose and under-immunised children, health workers would be responsible for administering vaccines, documenting services provided and validating the information collected.

Sarkin-Gulbi outlined four key areas of focus for the onboarding, including the identification and referral of children, vaccination and reporting, immunisation data validation and quality improvement, as well as accountability mechanisms to ensure that every identified child receives the required vaccines.

He stressed the need for routine immunisation providers to ensure timely vaccination and accurate reporting of children referred from communities, noting that reliable data was essential for effective planning and decision-making.

The Programme Manager further explained that the project would establish a two-way accountability system to track identified children until they completed their routine immunisation schedules.

He urged participants to actively engage in the onboarding, share their field experiences and identify practical ways to improve collaboration among the various stakeholders.

Sarkin-Gulbi expressed appreciation to the Zamfara State Primary Health Care Development Agency and the State Ministry of Health for providing the necessary support and releasing health workers to participate in the initiative.

He emphasised that the project was intended to strengthen existing immunisation services rather than create additional burdens for health workers.

Earlier, the Director, Disease Control and Immunisation at the Zamfara State Primary Health Care Development Board, Almustapha Alinkilo, said the meeting engaged routine immunisation service providers to strengthen community participation and increase demand for vaccination services across the seven local government areas.

He said the engagement was also to sensitise service providers on the intervention supported by GAVI through the Sultan Foundation for Peace and Development.

Alinkilo explained that the project would involve the engagement of community volunteers, including Community Development Officers (CDOs), to mobilise residents, raise awareness and encourage parents and caregivers to take eligible children to health facilities for routine immunisation.

According to him, inadequate awareness of the importance of immunisation among community members remains one of the major challenges affecting vaccination uptake in the state.

Alinkilo expressed optimism that the intervention would help bridge the gap by strengthening community sensitisation and encouraging more parents to utilise available immunisation services.

He said the Zamfara Government had continued to make vaccines available to protect children against vaccine-preventable diseases, adding that more than 656 health facilities across the state currently provide routine immunisation services.

The Director noted that the services were offered daily in some facilities and on designated days in others, urging parents and caregivers to take advantage of the opportunity to ensure their children receive the required vaccines.

He explained that routine immunisation was essential for preventing diseases that could cause outbreaks, severe illnesses and deaths among children and other members of the population.

Alinkilo called on community members to support the intervention by participating in awareness campaigns and ensuring that eligible children were presented at designated health facilities for vaccination.

He further emphasised that routine immunisation service providers from health facilities across the seven local government areas covered by the project were represented at the engagement meeting.

The Director said that the cooperation of health workers, community volunteers, parents and other stakeholders was crucial to improving immunisation coverage and reducing the burden of vaccine-preventable diseases in Zamfara.

The one-day onboarding brought together routine immunisation service providers, officials of the State Primary Health Care Development Agency, representatives of implementing partners, including Tolina, Accursals and New Incentives, as well as members of the press.

The Z-TRACE project seeks to strengthen immunisation tracking, improve accountability and ensure equitable access to routine vaccination services for children across Zamfara.

Zamfara is currently responding to a diphtheria outbreak that has recorded 367 cases with 44 fatalities, mostly children and young adults.