Besides the COVID-19 vaccine, it’s rare to see men willingly queuing up to get immunised in Nigeria. They believe it’s a women and children affair, but are often hesitant in giving their approval due to misconceptions and myths surrounding vaccines. REGINA OTOKPA, who recently worked with UNICEF’s Fathers for Good Health initiative, reports a paradigm shift in Lagos State.
Azeez Olasunkanmi, a mechanic was fixing a car, but his gaze didn’t miss the Health Educator for Santos Ward Focal and this correspondent as they stepped out of Legacy Schools in Akowonjo, Lagos State.
Excitedly, the Ward Focal called out to a vaccination team, who were walking a few metres down the adjacent street and in less than 15 minutes, Olasunkanmi and other people around his mechanic workshop were immunised against yellow fever.
Alighting from a tricycle commonly referred to as Marwa in Lagos and Keke in other parts of the country at Lagos Mainland about 17 hours later, the first sight was an immunisation team vaccinating some eager residents.
One of them, Joseph Ekele, noted that his perception towards the yellow fever vaccine changed after an exhaustive discussion on vaccines with an elderly man putting on a reflective jacket crested with UNICEF logo.
He said: “I’ve never been a fan of needles, I can’t say when I was far younger though. I used to believe vaccines generally have serious adverse effects that operate silently in the human system.
“I had a deep and lengthy argument a few days back on this with one of you. He didn’t only win the argument; it got me thinking for days. A lot of people would have died if my belief were to be true. So, when I saw the team this morning, I decided to give it a trial.”
Olasunkanmi and Ekele live and work in two different parts of Lagos, but they both share negative perceptions about the yellow fever vaccine as well as other routine immunisation for children.
All of that, however, changed when they came in contact with a team of men, community influencers, spreading the good news of immunisation through the Fathers for Good Health Initiative at separate days, time and location.
Of course, a group of men taking to the streets to sensitise others, especially their fellow men on the importance of yellow fever vaccine is not something we see every day.
Strange as it may sound, it has turned out to be one of the most effective strategies thus far, with rewarding results evident in the high uptake of the yellow fever vaccine in Lagos State.
The Fathers for Good Health initiative established by UNICEF, is a support group of men selected from their own communities and adequately trained to sensitise other fathers on the importance of not only getting immunised with the yellow fever vaccine, but to convince fathers, who before now do not allow their children take routine immunisation do so without hesitation.
The majority of men are generally known to be hesitant when it comes to immunisation. The common belief over the years has been that immunisation was a women and children’s affair.
Committed to ensuring the health, wellbeing and safety of all citizens, the government of Nigeria and UNICEF launched a vaccination campaign, the Supplementary Immunisation Activities (SIA), to build herd immunity against some vaccine preventable diseases including yellow fever, measles, HPV and other routine immunisation. The Fathers for Good Health initiative featured prominently in the SIA.
Yellow fever is a disease caused by mosquito bites. The disease is capable of causing serious liver damage and is a significant public health concern. Currently, there are vaccines to prevent more than 20 life-threatening diseases, helping people of all ages live longer, healthier lives.
Each year, immunisation prevents approximately 3 to 5 million deaths and safeguarding communities from outbreaks.
Some barriers to good vaccination coverage are parental education, poor access to health facilities, poor income, and lack of trust in healthcare workers, traditional beliefs, myths and misconceptions.
This was the reason why the Lagos State government with support from UNICEF, dedicated between October 19, and November 18, for the supplementary immunisation activities which ran in two phases in the state.
The aim is to build herd immunity by ensuring 85 per cent of Lagos residents between the ages of nine months and 44 years in 20 local government areas and 37 local council development areas receive the yellow fever vaccine.
A tour of some health facilities and visit to some strategic vaccination points including schools, popular bus stops and churches in three LGAs in Lagos State: Agege, Alimosho and Lagos Mainland revealed that the initiative was recording massive success in the uptake of the yellow fever vaccine most especially among men, and in addressing situations where some fathers were reluctant to allow their children partake in immunisations
A cross section of Lagos residents, who spoke to this correspondent, applauded the Father’s for Good Health initiative, saying that it met the expected results. They also affirmed that immunisation saves millions of lives, both young and old, annually.
It is one of the most critical public health tools that have continued to reduce the risks of getting a vaccine preventable disease. It has significantly contributed to reducing mortality and morbidity.
Immunisation
Not ashamed of convincing other men to get immunised, 54 year old Ogunsina Olumoye, wasn’t deterred by the criticisms trailing his new found love. He is the financial secretary 1 of Association of Artisans in Agege, and state chairman, butchers association, Agege local government area chapter.
He said: “Because I know it’s very good and that prevention is far better than cure. Yellow fever is deadly but if you have the vaccine you will be safe from it.
“I go house to house, street to street, community to community, some people even wanted to fight me but as an elderly man I applied wisdom to the job and with that I was able to convince a lot of men to agree to the vaccine.
“I suffered in the hands of some men, the economy made a lot of men reject the vaccine. They keep insisting that what they need is food, not vaccines but I kept explaining to them that vaccines are more important than food because the person who is sick will not be able to do anything.”
For the majority of the team members of the Father’s for Good Health initiative, it took a lot of hard work to convince the male gender to accept the yellow fever vaccine. From harsh economy, myths/misconceptions, ignorance, fear of the unknown to demands for incentives/palliatives, most residents of Lagos were at first skeptical about taking the shot.
Determination, persistence, passion and dedication brought the desired behaviour change leading to an upsurge of the yellow fever vaccine intakes as well as other routine immunisations.
How 33-year-old Ayobami Adeoba succeeded in breaking through and facilitating a massive uptake of the yellow fever vaccine in some “keep off” slums and ghettos in Alimosho LGA is a story for another day. He believes his young age was an added advantage as he speaks and understands the language of the residents.
“Irrespective of gender, my age was an advantage; they listened to us more. Some were scared of rumours that yellow fever causes weakness, and infertility. For others, the thought of paying money in hospitals made them take the vaccine.
“I was able to break into some slums and ghettos where I used to work while on the street. They identified with me, most especially when they saw I had received mine, we were able to also increase uptake in the other vaccines there.”
It was a herculean task for Temitope Emmanuel to convince quite a number of men in his neighbourhood to allow their children to take the routine immunisation and also the yellow fever vaccine.
He eventually pulled through after successfully disabusing their minds of some myths and misconceptions.
Emmanuel refused to give up on them because, “vaccines are a very good thing to our health, it will boost your immune system to ward off diseases and sicknesses. We also made the men understand that they will end up paying more or having to deal with severe complications if they mistakenly come down with the disease. Prevention is far cheaper than cure.”
Although 59-year-old Moshood Adegbite cannot take the yellow fever vaccine, he is at the forefront of championing a change in attitude towards immunisation in his community.
He said: “The men don’t know the value, only the women and youths do. Some people don’t want to leave their abode to go to where they can take it until we convince them.
The government should always engage men, intensify advertising on conventional media and social media so that people will know about the importance of getting themselves and members of their households fully and property immunised.”
Affirming the high impact of the initiative, Health Education Officer for Alimosho LGA, Akingbehin Adeyinka, was excited with the work the teams were doing in the various LGAs.
According to her, more men have been vaccinated within the duration of the SIA, even in the face of minimal rejections.
“They have been able to bring more men to be vaccinated. We have a spare part market at Alabuji Bus Stop we have been trying to bring on stream. But when the Fathers for Health started, the majority of the eligible age got vaccinated. This has not been happening in the past. In fact, it’s a very huge success,” she added.
The Health Education and Health Promotion Officer in Agege Local Government, Owoleke Samuel, clarified that the Fathers for Good Health Initiative did not only target men, but also extended its campaign to include women and children as the case may be.
According to him, although more women were still coming for the vaccine, involvement of the male gender in no little way changed the perception of a lot of men.
He added: “Most times you see more women coming for the vaccine, but involving the men made it easier. Based on gender, we will definitely see that we have a lot of men. I’ve been in several vaccination posts and I saw how men are coming, and that is simply because we included and involved them right from the process of mobilisation.
On her part, the Health Education Officer, Lagos Mainland, Adeyemi Zainab, maintained that the impact of the Fathers for Good Health has been wonderful with positive outcomes.
“Maybe I should give it 96%; they’ve been mobilising both men and women. When they get to some men, they’ve already taken the vaccine because of the pre-implementation preparation. The highest uptake of vaccines in this SIA is the yellow fever vaccine,” Zainab said.
Please follow and like us:
