Agency plans to use GPRS to track vaccinators

The National Primary Health Development Agency (NPHCDA) has said that it will use the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) to keep track of its vaccinators.
The Executive Secretary of the agency, Ado Mohammed, said this on Monday in Abuja during the review of February 2012 National Immunisation Plus Days and the final 2012 PEI emergence plan. He said that the agency had put in place the geographical information system to reach each settlement.  “We are putting in place the geographical information system to make sure that each and every settlement is reached; we are also using the GPRS which is global system to make sure that we track the vaccinators. “The essence is for us to make sure that each and every child that is eligible is reached.” Mr. Mohammed said the objective of the review was informed by the need to address the challenges the agency faced during the last immunization. He said some of the challenges included non-compliance with the exercise and difficulty in reaching some remote areas. Mr. Mohammed noted that while the state governors were now actively involved in the campaign, the Southern states did not meet the 90 per cent coverage expected of them. He noted that there had not been any reported case of polio in that part of the country. Mr. Mohammed said the country has witnessed four cases of Wild Polio Virus in the northern part of Nigeria and that the governors were working round the clock to ensure that no new case would be recorded.