………places priority on vaccine preventable diseases
By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
In a renewed effort to reduce panic and heightened tension among communities during disease outbreaks in Bauchi State, health reporters and content producers are undergoing an orientation program to equip them on how to respond to such emergencies in a responsible manner, so as not to create panic amongst the general public.
Organised by USAID funded Breakthrough Action-Nigeria (BA-N) in collaboration with the Bauchi State Primary Health Care Development Board (BSPHCDB), the training program is aimed at building a coalition of vaccine champions among media professionals in Bauchi State.
Nura Bashir Faggo, BA-N’s Bauchi Field office Social and Behaviour Change officer (SBCO) said that the engagement is aimed to train media reporters/ producers, information officers and program officers on how to handle and relate with each other during public health emergencies.
Fagoo said that training would also seek to deepen the capacity of the media practitioners to organise and produce Social Behaviour Change programs/reportage on disease outbreaks.
According to SBC officer, “this activity will also explore avenues to develop key topics and story angles to address rumours and misconceptions on the current outbreak of Diphtheria in some communities”.
While sharing BA-N’s findings on Zero Dose challenges in some selected LGAs of Bauchi State, the Advocacy and Strengthening officer of BA-N Bauchi Field office, Hadiza Jibril Ahmed said that the summary of the findings was developed through focus group discussions conducted in the selected LGAs to understand the barriers to and influences on routine immunization.
Jibril said that the key emphasis was on the roles of traditional and religious leaders in influencing vaccination decisions and addressing challenges.The advocacy officer also shared the recommendations of the findings that include:
- Increased awareness about individual vaccines and address fears through continuous community and media engagements
- The need for Government to implement routine and periodic outreach activities, especially in underserved communities and
- Engage community and religious leaders to advocate for routine immunization
At the day one of the training, other presentations were focused on Basic Concepts of Informedics, Status of routine immunization in Bauchi State and Vaccination hesitancy, that was highly participatory, attracting robust discussions, recommendations and contributions from the participants.
Our correspondent reports that Bauchi State has been grappling with recurring public health emergencies, particularly in vaccines preventable diseases, such as Cholera, Diphtheria, Lassa Fever, and Yellow Fever. Despite the State’s efforts to contain these emergencies, the repeated occurrences of these diseases indicates a need for a shift in attitudes, which requires social and behavioral change intervention (SBC).