The government of Canada and the federal government of Nigeria has unveiled an initiative aimed at promoting COVID-19 vaccine uptake in 15 states across Nigeria.
Canada Global Initiative for Vaccine Equity, also known as CanGIVE, is a two-year grant of $9, 261,920 from Global Affairs Canada to WHO to back the scale-up of COVID-19 vaccine service delivery amongst higher priority risk groups and empower health systems in Nigeria.
While speaking during the launch of the initiative, the Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA) Dr. Faisal Shuaib, stated that 15 low-performing states in the COVID-19 vaccination exercise would be the target of the implementation of the project.
According to him, the states targeted for implementation to include Ondo, Rivers, Kogi, Delta, Ebonyi, Lagos, Akwa-Ibom, Bayelsa, Benue, Ogun, Katsina, Taraba, Anambra, Kebbi, and Edo.
He said: “This grant targets states with lower performance and aims to reach high-priority populations. The grant, to be implemented through the World Health Organisation (WHO), will also contribute to strengthening the health system, addressing service delivery inequities and gender disparities at the sub-national level.
“We are confident that WHO will continue to support Nigeria’s efforts to enhance vaccine delivery, distribution, and public confidence, as well as generate demand.”
While providing an update on vaccination uptake in Nigeria, Shuaib disclosed that Nigeria had reached over 75 percent of the target population of individuals aged 18 and above with a minimum of one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
He said so far, Nigeria has been able to administer over 87 million of her citizens the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and that Nigeria was among the first countries to establish an electronic registry and integrate COVID-19 vaccination with other primary healthcare services.
He said: “Our “One Country, One Team, One Plan, One Budget” approach reflects our commitment to integrating lessons learned during and after the pandemic into our healthcare system.
“While we have made significant progress, we still have work to do. Several states have primary series coverage below 70 percent, and booster doses account for just over 20 percent of vaccinations.”
Jamie Christoff, Canadian High Commissioner for Nigeria, said the grant would enable the WHO Country office offer technical support to strengthen health systems, increase COVID-19 vaccine demand generation and uptake in an integrated mode with routine immunization and other vaccination programmes
He said CanGIVE in partnership with the WHO, UNICEF, and the Pan- American Health Organization and Medicines Patent Pool was established to achieve three objectives: to strengthen COVID-19 vaccine delivery systems and community outreach to reach high-priority and marginalised groups; to enhance the integration of COVID-19 vaccines into routine health services in a way that strengthens the broader health system, including to increase gender-responsiveness, and to scale up regional vaccine production capacity to bring manufacturing closer to populations in need.
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