Assessing the contributions of private health facilities in a pioneer private-public partnership in childhood immunization in Nigeria

Chukwuemeka Oluoha; Chukwuemeka Umeh; Hycienth Ahaneku

doi:10.4081/jphia.2014.297

Assessing the contributions of private health facilities in a pioneer private-public partnership in childhood immunization in Nigeria

https://doi.org/10.4081/jphia.2014.297

PDF HTML

Vol. 5 No. 1 (2014)

Submitted: 5 November 2012
Accepted: 26 November 2013

Published: 5 June 2014

childhood, immunization, privatepublic partnership, Nigeria.

Abstract Views: 1696

PDF: 980
HTML: 265

Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Chukwuemeka Oluoha Executive Director, Abia state Primary Health Care Agency, Abia State, Nigeria.
Chukwuemeka Umeh
emmyumeh@bu.edu
Department of International Health, Boston University School of Public Health, MA, United States.
Hycienth Ahaneku Department of Epidemiology, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX, United States.

The vision of Nigeria’s immunization program is to reach and sustain routine immunization coverage of greater than 90% for all vaccines by 2020. In order to achieve this, Abia state embarked on a unique private-public partnership (PPP) between private health facilities and the Abia state ministry of health. The aim of this partnership was to collaborate with private health facilities to provide free childhood immunization services in the state - the first of its kind in Nigeria. This is a retrospective study of the 2011 Abia state, Nigeria monthly immunization data. In the 4 local governments operating the PPP, 45% (79/175) of the health facilities that offered immunization services in 2011 were private health facilities and 55% (96/175) were public health facilities. However, 21% of the immunization services took place in private health facilities while 79% took place in public health facilities. Private health facilities were shown to have a modest contribution to immunization in the 4 local governments involved in the PPP. Efforts should be made to expand PPP in immunization nationally to improve immunization services in Nigeria.

Chukwuemeka Oluoha, Executive Director, Abia state Primary Health Care Agency, Abia State

Executive Director, Abia state Primary Health Care Development Agency, Abia State Nigeria

Chukwuemeka Umeh, Department of International Health, Boston University School of Public Health, MA

Master in Public Health student, Boston University School of Public Health, Massachusetts USA

Hycienth Ahaneku, Department of Epidemiology, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX

Doctorate in public health student, University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston Texas USA

Supporting Agencies

None

Oluoha, C., Umeh, C., & Ahaneku, H. (2014). Assessing the contributions of private health facilities in a pioneer private-public partnership in childhood immunization in Nigeria. Journal of Public Health in Africa, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/jphia.2014.297