Niger State Ministry of Primary Healthcare has flagged off this year's National Immunisation Plus Days (NIPDs) programme at the Palace of the Emir of Minna.
The flag-off ceremony included the distribution of Mama Kits, the distribution of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF), the killing of Chips Agents, data tools, and motorcycles to local government areas.
The Niger State First Lady, Hajiya Fatima Mohammed Bago, who was the Special Guest of Honour, said the aim of the flag-off was to create more awareness of routine immunisation vaccines among pregnant women.
She said that the vaccine, which was provided free, was safe and that the introduction of ready-to-use therapeutic foods was used for the treatment of severe malnutrition in children because nutrition plays a vital role in the growth of a child.
Hajiya Fatima used the occasion to donate about 5,000 Mama Kits to healthcare facilities and said she will sustain the distribution of kits to primary and secondary healthcare facilities across the 25 local government areas in the state, adding that Mama Kits was a personal initiative to support pregnant women who come to deliver at the healthcare facilities.
She explained that the interventions would have a direct impact and attract pregnant women to access healthcare facilities, as would the deployment of motorcycles to hard-to-reach areas of the state.
Also speaking at the ceremony, the state commissioner, Ministry of Primary Health Care, Dr. Ibrahim Dangana, explained that each health facility across the state had received a sum of N300,000 for the procurement of equipment to strengthen all policies in healthcare provision.
He said the recruitment of about 1,000 health workers, promotion and welfare of healthcare workers, and renovation of all facilities have already been flagged off, as has the introduction of the new vaccine papilloma, which is commonly found in women.
The state coordinator of the World Health Organisation WHO, Aliyu Suleiman, pointed out that the target of WHO was to immunise about three million children, and they had already immunised about two million children by day four of the immunisation programme.
He also thanked the first lady for providing them with an enabling environment to operate.