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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
IRAQ: New polio vaccination programme launched
BAGHDAD, 15 September 2004 (IRIN) - Iraq's Ministry of Health (MoH) has initiated the first polio immunisation programme in the country since the start of the war to topple Saddam Hussein in March 2003, in an effort to protect 4.7 million children from the infectious disease.
With support from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the European Union (EU), who contributed over US $2.5 million, the Iraqi authorities succeeded in immunising the vast majority of children in the first three days of the campaign, which started on 4 September, UNICEF said. A total of 25 million doses of vaccine were purchased with help from a $3.2 million grant from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
The WHO is also contributing to the reactivation of Iraq's expanded programme of immunisation by re-establishing the country's vital disease surveillance system.
Polio (poliomyelitis), which can cripple or kill children, has been virtually eradicated in the developed world. The last major outbreak in Iraq occurred in 1999, with 68 cases reported. Only four cases were reported in 2000.
UNICEF's chief of health, Dr Alexander Malyavin, praised Iraq's success at remaining polio-free in the past year. "The achievement of Iraq, in staying polio-free despite the chaos of the past year, is outstanding. Other countries facing such challenges have gone backwards and polio has re-emerged."
With the war and ongoing fighting in Iraq, much of the country's health system broke down, making routine immunisations impossible. Air strikes destroyed a Baghdad immunisation warehouse, wasting millions of doses. Vaccines refrigerated elsewhere were spoiled during the frequent postwar blackouts.
"The programme was completely paralysed after the war. Now our expectation is to reach all Iraqi children. Thanks to UNICEF and the WHO, this dream can be reached," Nima Abed, general director of public health in the Ministry of Health, told IRIN.
But Malyavin cautioned against complacency. The ongoing insecurity in Iraq makes the current campaign more necessary, he said, with an increased risk that the virus could enter the country from other states where it survives in the wild. Despite renewed surveillance systems, immunisation coverage is still insufficient, meaning that vaccination campaigns will need
to continue.
Abed also highlighted security concerns, saying that in Sadr city, Fallujah, Sho'ola and Najaf the situation is worse due to the violence and lack of security which makes it more difficult to reach all infants in those areas.
"One of our difficulties is to reach suburban areas for security reasons, but we are trying to do our best. I get pleasure from doing that. I feel that I'm giving a life to Iraqi children," Hadeel Adnnan, 29, a volunteer, told IRIN in Baghdad.
Families in Iraq appear to have welcomed the return of vaccinations, with their infant children protected by taking two drops of a slightly bitter liquid. "Sometimes you wake up in the morning afraid that the virus has reached your child and he has become paralysed, and for me it is a pleasure to see that the public health [system] is re-entering our homes," Assil Al-Seif, a mother-of-five from the Mansour area of Baghdad, told IRIN.
Generators also have been distributed to medical vaccination centres to help prevent them from spoiling. "Now we can be sure that this important medicine can be kept safe in our refrigerators and not be afraid that we are going to lose it again," Dr Rabab Muhammad, a paediatrician from the vaccination centre in the Yarmouk sector of the capital, told IRIN.
Theme(s): (IRIN) Health & Nutrition
[ENDS]
This material comes to you via IRIN, a UN humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations or its agencies. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Quotations or extracts should include attribution to the original sources. All materials copyright © UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004
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