One
of the public health measures that stuck out for me was Immunization. Here in
the US, where Immunizations are accessible to all children regardless of their
race or the parents ability to pay, many children go unimmunized despite these privileges.
However, they are not as easily accessed in Nigeria. According to the PATH: Immunization
in Nigeria website: “Northern Nigeria has one of the lowest rates of
immunization coverage in the world. In many parts of the north, barely 10
percent of children receive all of their routine vaccines. A formerly strong
primary health care system in northern Nigeria has weakened over many years.
Polio outbreaks, rumors on the safety of the polio vaccine, and subsequent
campaigns disrupted routine immunization services. Routine immunization
services are either no longer available or irregular; limited resources for
health services and gaps in vaccine storage and distribution add to the
challenge of increasing immunization coverage” (1995-2013).
This
particular topic sticks out to me for a couple of reasons: one being my best
friend’s husband is from Nigeria and he often talks about the lack of
sufficient medical supplies and shortages. The other reason is having worked
with children for over 15 years it is so unreal that in America, so many
children go unimmunized. The information that I have obtained will continue to
encourage me to encourage all parents (especially young parents) to get their
children immunized that they don’t have an excuse why they aren’t.
Reference
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