In Zaria, district heads from six local government areas, including Zaria, Sabon Gari, Ikara, Soba, Makarfi, and Kudan, recently gathered under the Zazzau Emirate to discuss routine immunization. Dr. Bello Abdulkadir, Salanken Zazzau and focal person for the Zazzau Emirate on Health and Medical Services, shared insights on the meeting, challenges faced, and the impact of the All Babies program in those LGAs.

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Purpose of the meeting

“This meeting was convened to review both the successes and the challenges we still face in routine immunization,” Dr. Bello explained. “We invited district heads from six LGAs, alongside focal persons from NTLC [Northern Traditional Leaders Committee], to highlight the issues and agree on solutions together.”

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Challenges were discussed

According to Dr. Bello, several obstacles continue to affect vaccination efforts:

1. Misunderstanding and lack of awareness: “Some people still don’t know what routine immunization really means,” he noted.
2. Political interference: “Unfortunately, politics sometimes gets mixed into health. Communities may reject an initiative simply because of who brought it.”
3. Bypassing traditional leadership: “For work to succeed, it must begin with the emir and flow through district heads down to the ward level. When officials bypass this order, it weakens community ownership.”

“These are the issues we discussed, and we reached consensus on the way forward,” he said.

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Possible solutions

Dr. Bello emphasized two key strategies the meeting participants agreed upon:

1. Engaging stakeholders from the ground up: “Where misunderstandings exist, all stakeholders, from grassroots leaders to staff, must be involved in planning.”
2. Sensitizing political leaders: “Local government chairmen and other politicians must be shown that immunization is for the people’s benefit and should never be politicized.”

He added that district and village heads also committed to guiding their people away from politicizing healthcare.

“With these steps, we believe that resistance and rejection will reduce, and routine immunization will continue to improve by God’s grace,” he affirmed.
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All Babies program in Zazzau

Reflecting on NI-ABAE’s presence, Dr. Bello said:

“New Incentives has been here for at least four years. Awareness has increased, and women now understand the importance of bringing their children for immunization. The ₦1,000 incentive, especially the reward [of an additional ₦5,000] for mothers who complete their child’s doses within 15 months, has made a real difference.”

He estimated that about 75% of the work has been a success:

“You know how life is—when one problem is solved, another arises. But we are grateful. May Allah reward you.”