insurgency has denied children access to immunisation
Insurgency and violent conflict in northern Nigeria have disrupted more than just daily life and commerce — they are now being blamed for denying thousands of children access to vital immunisation services, creating serious public health risks that could reverberate for years. A former member of the House of Representatives, Wale Okediran, raised the alarm this week in Ibadan, saying that insecurity linked largely to Boko Haram and related insurgent violence has prevented children and infants from receiving basic vaccines to protect against deadly diseases. 
The insurgency has denied children access to immunisation, Okediran says, as he spoke on a state-owned broadcasting programme called “Guest Platform,” where he also tied the continued violence to a broader decline in social services and health outcomes. He recounted that in areas affected by decades of insurgent activity, parents and health workers alike face obstacles that range from fear of violence to the physical collapse of health infrastructure — all of which have a concrete impact on the delivery of preventive health services like childhood immunisation. 
“We have not been able to immunise many children in the North for years,” Okediran told listeners. “When you look at the indices of Nigeria when it comes to vaccination, the North’s record will always go down.” 
Security Challenges Blocking Health Access
The impact of insecurity on immunisation is well documented in Nigeria and globally. Violence and armed conflict can undermine routine vaccination efforts in several ways: by damaging or destroying health facilities, forcing health workers to flee, disrupting supply lines for vaccines, and deterring families from attending clinics due to fear of attack or ambush. In Nigeria’s northeast, where Boko Haram has been active for more than a decade, these effects have been especially pronounced. 
During peak periods of insurgent violence in Nigeria, organisations such as the World Health Organization reported that hundreds of thousands of children in conflict-affected areas were unreachable by vaccination teams, leaving gaps in coverage and risking outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. 
Nigeria’s National Emergency Routine Immunization Coordination Centre and partners have noted that insecurity complicates deployment of vaccinators and outreach workers in areas where road access is hazardous, and where families may have been displaced. The situation is made worse by the fact that insurgent tactics often target community gathering points, including health centres, schools and public transport routes. 
Drop in Vaccination Coverage and Health Indices
Okediran’s comments came amid broader concerns that conflict-related disruptions have affected multiple aspects of public health. Beyond immunisation, he said, insurgency has harmed commerce, displaced families, and reduced internally generated revenue in affected states, compounding the challenges faced by local governments in funding health services. 
Health experts warn that when vaccination coverage dips, communities lose herd immunity — the indirect protection that occurs when a high proportion of a population is immunised against a disease, thereby limiting its spread among those who are unvaccinated. In conflict zones where immunisation rates fall, the risk of outbreaks increases for diseases such as measles, polio, tetanus and whooping cough. 
Nigeria has been combating polio for years, and although the country was removed from the list of polio-endemic countries, recent outbreaks in insecure areas showed how fragile progress can be when immunisation programmes are derailed by violence. In some northeastern local government areas, insurgency has prevented regular vaccination campaigns, leaving children vulnerable to preventable illnesses. 
https://ogelenews.ng/insurgency-blocks-immunisation
Children, Fear, and Access Issues
Families in conflict-affected communities face a stark choice: risk travelling through insecure territory to reach a clinic, or forgo routine vaccinations to preserve safety. Health workers, too, often risk their lives to deliver vaccines, sometimes requiring military escort in order to reach isolated settlements. In other settings, outreach campaigns have adapted by using community informants or local volunteers to minimise the visibility of official health workers, a tactic that aims to reduce the risk of insurgent attacks. 
The result is that in many areas where insurgents are active, children may go months or years without receiving basic immunisations that are essential to preventing serious diseases. These gaps not only endanger children locally, they can contribute to broader public health setbacks if outbreaks occur and spread beyond conflict zones.
Broader Social Impact of Conflict on Health
Okediran connected the immunisation issue to other social consequences of insecurity, arguing that the North — once peaceful and integrated with the rest of the country — now struggles with multiple developmental setbacks. From stalled economic activity to disruptions in schooling and agriculture, he said, the steady deterioration of peace has affected every measure of community well-being. 
He lamented that where immunisation programmes had once reached twice-yearly milestones, insecurity now creates “pockets of unvaccinated children” that lower overall national coverage and threaten public health gains achieved over decades. 
Calls for Action and Hope for the Future
While Okediran acknowledged the severity of the problem, he also expressed hope that ongoing collaboration between Nigeria, regional partners and international efforts to stabilise the northeast would eventually improve access to health services, including immunisation. Strengthened security, coupled with targeted health outreach and community engagement, could help reverse some of the setbacks imposed by years of violence.
Public health experts contend that any meaningful recovery of immunisation coverage in conflict-affected regions will require not only improved security but also investment in mobile clinics, community-based health workers, and conflict-sensitive programming that prioritises access for children in isolated areas.
For parents, health workers, and community leaders in affected states, the message is clear: unless the insurgency is checked, the insurgency has denied children access to immunisation, and the broader health landscape will remain precarious.
https://gh.bmj.com/content/10/10/e020322
insurgency has denied children access to immunisation
