REPORT ON THE TWO DAY TRAINING FOR WAVA MEMBERS
The training commenced at the Amaechi Hall of Rockview Royale Hotel, Abuja, on the 4th of August with the second stanza of the national anthem.
We went through a pretest to show our
previous knowledge of the training we were about to undergo. This was
immediately followed by a welcome remark by the WAVA
Convener, Dr. Chizoba Wonodi. The objectives of the training was
explained to us, among which was “to improve the knowledge of advocates on
routine immunization activities in Nigeria and inspire them to champion
advocacy for equitable access to vaccines”.
The training started proper with Mr Eugene Ivase from the National primary health care
development agency (NPHCDA) who enlightened us on the overview of immunization
program in Nigeria. Also Dr. Chizoba also educated
about some common vaccine preventable diseases (VPDS) in Nigeria and
listed out some of this diseases as measles, pneumonia, poliomyelitis,
Hepatitis B, yellow fever, tuberculosis etc.
Dr. Shola Molemodile also took a
session on vaccine as a life-saving commodity. Dr. Laz Eze
then took us through a session on immunization
funding. He stated that 4.1 % of the national budget was allocated to the
health sector this year which was below the 15%
agreed by Nigeria in the Abuja Declaration of 2001. He also highlighted the immunization funding gaps and said
that Nigeria needs to include $181 million (more than N50 billion) in 2017
budget to buy vaccines that can last for two years. The day ended
with a WAVA video screening on the activities of WAVA.
The second day of the training
commenced with Mr. Ayo Ipinomye who taught us how to conduct an effective
inter-personal communication. Dr. Chizoba took us through the stakeholder mapping, coordination and development of
advocacy activities. We were also taught how to conduct a successful advocacy
using the social media and also the use of mass
media (electronic and print) for effective advocacy.
The training ended with a group work
and each group were given a sector of the economy to make a plan on how to make
known the need for the doubling of the budget for immunization come
2017.
The
training ended with a post test and evaluation.
#NigFundVaccine.
~Ngozi Blessing Obialor (Team Member, New Century Initiative)
~Ngozi Blessing Obialor (Team Member, New Century Initiative)
