1519Integrated Measles and Meningitis Vaccination Campaign in Nigeria: Experience of the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract Introduction The Nigeria government, supported by its development partners conducted several vaccination campaigns involving various antigens across the country in 2019. Majority of the states in the North including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) implemented the Integrated Measles and Men A vaccination campaign (IVC) which itself was an innovation given that both campaigns were initially planned as stand-alone campaigns. The integration of these campaigns came with additional planning, new implementation strategies and challenges. This paper aims to highlight the key drivers of FCT’s performance in achieving greater than 90% vaccination coverage for both antigens and the challenges of the integrated campaign in FCT. Methods A baseline review of previous campaign reports, micro plans and tally sheet data was conducted to identify challenges of previous SIAs in FCT, best practices and lessons learnt. A preliminary analysis of available data revealed a shortfall in resources early enough in the planning phase. Notably, was a shortfall of about 300 vaccination teams for the implementation of the Measles vaccination campaign (as a standalone campaign) as well as shortfall in cold chain equipment and logistic funds. We leveraged on the thrice weekly technical coordination meetings to review these challenges to seek ways to mitigate them. Result Strategic efforts to address the identified gaps led to the state sponsoring an additional 354 vaccination teams to support implementation by leveraging on the SOML funds. Staggering the campaign was key to ensuring adequacy of CCEOPs to address the increase in the number required due to the integration. The additional state sponsored team vaccinated 121777 and 123588 children who otherwise would have been missed with the Measles antigen with the Men A antigen respectively. Conclusion Strategic resolution of identified challenges was pivotal to FCT’s performance of greater than 90% vaccination coverages for both antigens. Key words Measles, Meningitis A, Integrated, Vaccination, Campaign