Objectives
While the coverage of vitamin A supplementation through the New-born and Child Health Week (MNCHW) campaign in Nigeria has increased from 26% in 2008 to almost 50% in 2013, the performance increases have stagnated in recent years. A thorough review was undertaken with the objective of understanding the barriers to increasing programme coverage.
Methods
In the past two years, a series of consultations with national stakeholders and State governments have taken place. Landscape analysis and external real-time monitoring of the MNCHW campaign were carried out. A bottleneck analysis was conducted and a conceptual framework was developed to further improve the MNCHW programme.
Results
The supply of Vitamin A at facilities was adequate. Only 22% of the 37 States released funds two weeks prior to the campaign. Staff shortages were noted in 52% of facilities. Poor quality of social mobilization. Inadequate human resource and physical access for caregivers were identified as barriers with only 25% of health facilities in each ward conducting the campaign.
Conclusions
For the attainment of universal and sustainable coverage in Nigeria, four thematic pillars were identified to improve MNCHW: Increased community awareness and acceptance, increased access to MNCHW, enhanced planning and institutional frameworks and adequate predictable financing. In the national review with the States for June 2015 round, an action plan was developed to address these bottlenecks.
