Ever walked into a government hospital in Nigeria for a vaccine jab and was informed that you had to ”pay something” before it can be given to you? You are not alone. Many Nigerians can testify to having to pay before obtaining vaccines which ought to be administered free of charge in government healthcare facilities across the country.
Vaccination, one of the most cost effective interventions in public health, is aimed at preventing infectious diseases. Because the duty of government is to ensure the wellbeing of its citizens, a lot of public funds go into procurement of different vaccines yearly. According to the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN), these vaccines include Bacille Calmett Guerin (BCG), Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), Hepatitis B, Pneumococcal vaccine, Rota Virus Disease vaccine, Measles vaccine Mumps vaccine, Yellow fever vaccine, and Tetanus vaccine. Vitamin A is also given to infants from 6 months.
The importance of immunisation cannot be overemphasised. Information gathered from PAN states that it is able to prevent 2-3 million deaths globally each year, prevents diseases, can be used to stop the spread of an epidemic, stops disabilities, saves scarce economic resources, prevents suffering and helps to keep children healthy.
In addition, vaccines can reduce the development of antibiotic resistance by preventing the occurrence of the infection in the first instance and contribute to sustainable development by enhancing productivity.
Cash for vaccines…
Despite the importance of immunisation, many government owned hospitals discourage citizens from being properly immunised by demanding for payment for the vaccines provided by the government at no cost to the facility.
This constitutes another impediment to the federal government’s Immunisation Programme which has other setbacks due to factors including ethnicity and religious beliefs.
Making vaccines accessible to everyone by putting a price on it has dire consequences on the health of the nation. For example, the outcome of hepatitis vaccines being inaccessible to people who cannot afford the cost charged by some government-run hospitals is grave. This is because the risk of contracting HBV in Nigeria is substantial, not only due to low vaccination rates but also given that as many as 75% of the population will be exposed.
Investigators have reported varying national and risk group-specific estimates. Prior reports suggest a prevalence of 10 to 15% in the average risk Nigerian population. They found high HBV prevalence among surgeons (25.7%), voluntary blood donors (23.4%) and infants (16.3%).
A 2012 study in Kano, northern Nigeria, found that among 440 HIV positive patients, 12.3% were co-positive for HBV. Although pregnant women are generally considered low risk for HBV infection, rates as high as 11% have been reported in Nigeria.
Hepatitis B is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in Nigeria. In southern parts of the country, up to 58.1% of patients with chronic liver disease were found HBsAg positive, according to health records.
