Taraba State has reduced the proportion of children without routine vaccinations from 24 per cent to four per cent, the state’s primary healthcare agency has disclosed.
The Taraba State Primary Health Care Development Agency (TSPHCDA) also reported a rise in skilled birth attendance from 54.7 per cent to 74.5 per cent.
The Executive Secretary of the agency, Dr Tukura Nuhu, disclosed the figures during a media briefing in Jalingo. He said the developments reflected improved access to maternal and child healthcare services across the state.
Nuhu said Taraba had also emerged as Nigeria’s best-performing state in the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Measles-Rubella vaccination campaigns. He attributed the progress to reforms targeted at strengthening the state’s primary healthcare system.
According to him, the state recruited 450 health personnel and 336 emergency ambulance staff, while approval had also been secured for the engagement of 480 community-based health workers. Nuhu said the additional workforce had strengthened healthcare delivery and improved the ability of primary healthcare facilities to respond to community needs.
The TSPHCDA executive secretary disclosed that 113 primary healthcare facilities across all wards had been revitalised under the IMPACT project. He added that three regional healthcare centres had been upgraded through interventions by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.
Thirteen other facilities, he said, had received support through programmes backed by the Global Fund and UNICEF. Nuhu said the combination of infrastructure improvements, additional personnel and vaccination interventions had contributed to the state’s recent healthcare gains.
Despite the progress, the TSPHCDA boss warned that sustaining the gains would depend on urgent action to address operational challenges confronting the agency. He identified inadequate counterpart funding, poor budget releases and the lack of permanent office accommodation among the major difficulties facing the agency. He also cited unpaid electricity bills at the state’s cold stores as a concern.
According to Nuhu, reliable funding and logistics were particularly important to maintaining vaccination programmes and other primary healthcare interventions. He stressed that timely financial commitments would be necessary to prevent the progress already recorded from being reversed.
Nuhu further warned that failure to address the agency’s challenges could undermine the state’s healthcare gains and affect opportunities for additional support from development partners. He called for stronger government commitment to funding and logistics to ensure that existing programmes remain sustainable.
The agency’s reported reduction in zero-dose children and increase in skilled birth attendance, he said, demonstrated what could be achieved through sustained investment in primary healthcare. Nuhu therefore urged continued support for the reforms to consolidate the gains made in maternal, child and immunisation services across Taraba State.
