Immunization is one of the most powerful tools to keep children safe from dangerous diseases. Approximately 4 million deaths worldwide (https://www.cdc.gov/global-immunization/fast-facts/) are prevented by childhood vaccination every year. Unfortunately, one in five children globally lack access to vaccination, including many in Nigeria.

The Christian Health Association of Nigeria (CHAN) is striving to change that. CHAN is committed to improving the vaccination programs and ensuring the provision of immunization services across all CHAN member institutions.

In the Sahel Region of Nigeria, CHAN in collaboration with partners viz: ACHAP/World Vision and GAVI, succeeded in administering 1,829,128 doses of life-saving vaccines to Zero-dose children, with 117,607 Children receiving the DPT-containing vaccine for the first time. (In about One year). This feat was made possible through the engagement of experienced personnel, regular supportive supervision, responsive community engagement, scenario planning, and adaptive programming.

The use of innovative tech-based monitoring and evaluation ensures the validation of the over 1.8 Million doses administered. GIS technology was instrumental in identifying missed communities, tracking vaccination teams, tracking displacement due to conflict and climatic shocks, and ensuring that every Jab is delivered to the right arm.

CHAN is proud to share that it’s among the first organizations to deploy a functional Electronic Immunization Registry (EIR), that captures longitudinal case-based data. This means that all the children vaccinated are captured in detail in the EIR, this helps monitor migration, and ensure every child gets fully vaccinated.

“A community that is inaccessible to one organization, is accessible to another organization due to their local presence. CHAN is demonstrating great access to rural, fragile and conflict communities in Nigeria” – UNICEF Chief in Nigeria.

The states covered in Nigeria includes: Plateau, Sokoto, Kaduna and Maiduguri.