The Abia government says it achieved 96 per cent coverage in the just-concluded measles-rubella vaccination campaign, surpassing the 95 per cent benchmark required to attain herd immunity against infectious diseases statewide.

The commissioner for information, Okey Kanu, disclosed this on Monday while briefing journalists on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting in Umuahia.

Mr Kanu said the campaign, which commenced on February 3, targeted children aged nine months to 14 years in schools, health facilities and other public institutions across the state.

He noted that the exercise surpassed the 95 per cent herd immunity threshold, recording 96 per cent coverage of the target population, and described the outcome as a significant public health success.

Mr Kanu said more than 8,000 vaccination teams were deployed across the state to ensure smooth implementation, adding that officials were still collating detailed data from the exercise.

He said the achievement underscored the current administration’s commitment to improving healthcare delivery and making quality medical services affordable and accessible to residents across the state.

Mr Kanu further announced that the governor approved a collaboration between the State Ministry of Health and Quantus Medical Foundation, a U.S.-based healthcare consultancy, to strengthen service delivery standards.

He said the partnership would focus on training health workers to adopt global best practices, improve patient experience and enhance overall efficiency in public health facilities statewide.

Mr Kanu also disclosed that the ministry would functionalise 53 fully equipped primary health centres, raising the number of operational centres in the state to about 117 upon completion.

He added that the Abia State Digital Health Pilot Project had commenced in selected hospitals and primary health centres to improve data management and healthcare service delivery.

The commissioner for health, Enoch Uche, said the training programme aimed to institutionalise best practices across primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare facilities throughout the state.

Mr Uche said the governor mandated the ministry to engage healthcare culture-change experts to address service quality concerns, communication gaps and issues of professional conduct in facilities.

He explained that the initiative would train doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health workers in effective communication, empathy, and improved patient care processes across facilities.

Mr Uche noted that poor communication and a lack of empathy often led to misunderstandings between healthcare providers and patients, sometimes undermining trust and treatment outcomes.

He said the training would be implemented in phases, beginning with doctors and nurses before extending to other categories of health workers at the local government level.

Mr Uche described Quantus Medical Foundation as a healthcare culture-change consultancy led by an Abia-born professional with experience working with health institutions within and outside Nigeria.

Regarding vaccination outcomes, Mr Uche said the 95 per cent benchmark represented the minimum required to achieve herd immunity and prevent sustained transmission of infectious diseases.

He explained that herd immunity provided indirect protection when a large proportion of a population became immune through vaccination or prior exposure, reducing the chances of outbreaks.

Mr Uche added that achieving 96 per cent coverage meant Abia had exceeded the required threshold, significantly lowering the risk of measles or rubella outbreaks statewide.

(NAN)