Port Harcourt, Rivers 11 May 2015 - The reinforced partnership with private health facilities in Rivers State is beginning to yield unprecedented results as recent exit interviews indicate that 92%  of caregivers were satisfied with routine immunization services despite the lingering industrial action embarked upon by public health workers of Rivers State. As at the end of March 2015, the state’s routine immunization (RI) coverage stands at 58% for Penta 3 which is on course to attaining the national target of 80% by end of the year.

The strike action which started last year had led to a sharp decline in routine immunization services provision with 72,335 children un/ under-immunized by the end of December 2014.

“With the strike, I thought my child would not be immunized as I heard that the fee-charges in the clinic will be high but on reaching the health facility was told that the vaccines are free and I just need to register my 4 months’old child. This is the first time he is being immunized” Mrs Essien Ibot, a mother of two, elaborated during the interview.

Building capacity of private sector health workers

Primary health care workers in Rivers State have been on strike since July 2014 to press demands for better welfare packages. As a result, RI services were seriously affected in the state then, but are now being conducted mainly by private health facilities which hitherto contributed only 16% of the total number of health facilities offering RI services.

With further decline in view, the World Health Organization (WHO) Rivers State Office and the  State Primary Health Care Management Board (RSPHCMB) supported by other partners identified and trained  210 health workers in 110 private health facilities in December 2014, January and February 2015 for the provision of quality RI services to the children.

Keeping watch on the activities:

Strengthened supportive supervision to the health facilities is cardinal in maintaining and improving RI services.

By end of April 2015, RSPHCMB, WHO, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and other partners had conducted RI supportive supervision visits to 66 private health facilities in eight local government areas of Rivers State.

On the recommendation of WHO, the methodology adopted entailed  visiting  each facility on their immunization days to ensure that the facility’s RI session were observed alongside completion of  standard national RI checklist with the sending of real-time data through SMS to RI Working Group at the national level National.

“The impetus to expand supervisory visits to these health facilities stemmed from the stark reality that  lopsided  visits to only few health facilities will further stagnate the progress  achieved in previous years” Dr Sylvester Maleghemi, the WHO State Coordinator in Rivers reckoned.

The WHO Zonal office supported the strategy by developing an online data base where all the supervisors’ data is immediately uploaded and could be monitored by both the state and partners on a real- time basis, accentuated with mapping of private health facilities using the customized ODK software.

Positive feedback

Current analysis of the exit interviews conducted with caregivers in the health facilities   revealed that 86% are knowledgeable on the importance of routine immunization; 88% know which vaccine their children received while 88% of caregivers were aware of the next scheduled visit for their children.

Findings from the visit equally showed that 89% of health workers conducting RI had been trained within the last one year,  77% gave six key immunization messages  and 86% correctly defined Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI).

A health worker, Mrs Ibe Christinia of Paragon Clinics Imaging, said “  with this supervision, the  importance of coverage monitoring chart and tracking of defaulters will be prioritized and there is need for the supervison to continue”.

It is planned that the  sytematic supportive suppervisory visits to the private health facilitiess will be scaled up  and sustained by  partners. The RSPHCMB also planned to follow up on recommendations made and assess the quality of RI services being provided. These will be managed and captured by the servers provided by WHO Rivers office.

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For more information, please contact:

Technical contacts:

Dr Pascal Mkanda; Tel: +234 803 402 2140; Email: mkandap [at] who.int
Dr Sylvester Maleghemi; Tel: +234 8023038794; Email: maleghemis [at] who.int
Media contact:

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

01. Vaccination at Power Holding Company Staff clinic

02. Planning meeting held at WHO Rivers state  conference hall

03. Health talk prior to immunization session