Project profile — Eradicating Polio and Strengthening Primary Health Care in Northern Nigeria



Overview 

CA-3-D000148001
$18,105,863
UNICEF - United Nations Children's Fund (41122)
2015-03-30 - 2018-12-31
Closed
Global Affairs Canada
WGM Africa

Country / region 

• Nigeria (100.00%)

Sector 

• Health, General: Medical services (12191) (10.00%)
• Basic health care:
Basic health care (12220) (25.00%)
Infectious disease control (12250) (65.00%)

Policy marker 

• Gender equality (not targeted)
• Environmental sustainability (cross-cutting) (not targeted)
• Participatory development and good governance (not targeted)
• Trade development (not targeted)
• Biodiversity (not targeted)
• Climate change mitigation (not targeted)
• Climate Change Adaptation (not targeted)
• Urban issues (not targeted)
• Desertification (not targeted)
• Children's issues (significant objective)
• Youth Issues (not targeted)
• Indigenous Issues (not targeted)
• Disability (not targeted)
• ICT as a tool for development (not targeted)

Description 

The project aims to improve people’s health by rapidly increasing polio immunity and the availability of basic maternal, newborn and child health services in 2,500 hard-to-reach settlements in Jigawa, Niger, Zamfara and Taraba states in northern Nigeria. The project seeks to hire, train, supervise and monitor 50 mobile health teams (with 250 health workers) to procure and deliver polio vaccines. This is expected to strengthen rural health systems and support active surveillance of polio and other diseases. The mobile health teams also provide other health interventions to boost overall health, address urgent health needs and help increase the acceptance of polio vaccination. These include: (1) providing vitamin A and multivitamins to address malnutrition in women and children; (2) providing treatment for pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and other vaccines against preventable diseases; (3) providing preventive health services for pregnant women, such as iron folate; and (4) providing health education on issues such as safe water and sanitation management, the benefits of exclusive breast-feeding, nutrition and maternal health. Project activities include: (1) immunizing children (0-59 months of age) against polio; (2) identifying priority target populations requiring polio immunization, including detailed health team plans, commodities, logistics requirements and a mobile outreach schedule; (3) preparing and producing protocols, training materials and health education materials for outreach teams and populations; (4) conducting community engagement activities to educate people on important health issues; and (5) demonstrating the effectiveness of the mobile outreach approach as a strategy to access hard-to-reach, vulnerable populations, to national, state and local governments for future government-supported scale-up by documenting performance, challenges, lessons learned and value for money. These activities will contribute to the ultimate outcome, now within reach, of eradicating polio in Nigeria.

Expected results 

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) improved immunity to polio among children aged 0 to 59 months and coverage of basic maternal, newborn and child health services; (2) improved availability of basic and life-saving primary health care commodities, reaching approximately one million people; and (3) increased knowledge by governments and partners of the costs and benefits of integrated mobile outreach programming as a model for future investment in primary health care.

Results achieved 

Results achieved as of the end of the project December 2018 include: (1) vaccinated 2,405,265 children under the age of five years old and reached 3,178,343 households through mobile health team visits; (2) helped reduce diarrheal deaths by providing oral rehydration solution and zinc to 143,906 children; and (3) provided 237,725 children under the age of five years old with artemisinin-based combination therapy to diminish malaria-related deaths.

Budget and spending 


Original budget $0
Planned disbursement $0
Transactions
Country percentages by sector
Type of finance Aid grant excluding debt reorganisation
Collaboration type Bilateral
Type of aid Contributions to specific-purpose programmes and funds managed by implementing partners