By Ike Uchechukwu, CALABAR

Cross River State has sustained a 95 per cent national immunisation coverage rating, even as the state government moves to close gaps in vaccine access, especially in hard-to-reach communities.

Commissioner for Health, Dr. Henry Egbe Ayuk, disclosed this yesterday in Calabar when an evaluation and surveillance team from the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), Lagos, and the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) visited the Ministry to review the state’s immunisation and polio surveillance performance.

Ayuk commended the team and health partners for the collaborative review, stressing that sustaining the gains would require stronger partnerships and improved financing.

“I have listened to your presentation, and I hope that I’ll have a copy of that presentation.

‘When we talk about sustainable financing, we are talking not only about the state, the public appropriation, which of course we would also advocate for improvement, we also advocate for more partnership,” Ayuk said.

The Commissioner disclosed that only about 200 of the more than 1,000 health facilities in the state currently deliver immunisation services, a gap he said must be closed to improve access in underserved communities.

He assured that findings from the evaluation would be integrated into a strategic roadmap to strengthen primary healthcare delivery and expand vaccine accessibility across all local government areas.

Speaking on the assessment, Prof. Oliver Ezechi of NIMR, Lagos, said the visit was for an external review of the state’s polio surveillance system, noting that the team identified several strengths.

“The purpose of this visit is external review of the surveillance systems for polio in the state ,the most important is that presently Cross River State is scoring in terms of national immunization coverage 95 per cent,” Ezechi said.

He said the exercise was to ensure the state maintained or surpassed the benchmark, stressing the importance of effective surveillance in sustaining gains against polio.

Also speaking, Dr. Kafayat Ajakaye of NPHCDA said Cross River was among states selected for the review and was performing well, with no circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus recorded.

She said the exercise also aimed at identifying areas requiring strengthening to prevent poliovirus importation from other states, covering three local government areas, nine health facilities, nine community informants and nine parents of acute flaccid paralysis cases.