Measles immunization campaign begins for children in Southern Sudan
By Swangin Bismarck
29,Nov 2005 (JUBA) — An ambitious mass measles vaccination campaign was launched in Juba, Monday, November 28, 2005 intended to reach millions of children in Southern Sudan, a region that has helplessly seen measles take its toll on children for decades.
The campaign aims at scaling up the measles vaccination coverage in Southern Sudan where vaccination coverage rate is just a drop in the ocean.
Measles is caused by a highly infectious virus, and is a leading cause of child mortality globally. The threat to life is compounded when children are malnourished, and even more so living in pathetic conditions.
An estimated 4.5 million children will over the next 18 months be injected in the campaign launched by UNICEF, WHO and the Government of South Sudan (GOSS) Secretariat of Health.
The 12 million dollar campaign will sweep across the three states of Central, Western and Eastern Equatoria before taking on the other seven states of Southern Sudan.
Southern Sudan, a region which bore the brutality of a war that led to the breakdown of its health facilities lost a significant number of its children to curable diseases with measles as the leading cause of vaccine-preventable deaths.
The Director of UNICEF, Southern Sudan said, “This campaign took a lot of effort to make a reality, but its an effort worth” adding that, ““We are taking advantage of an unprecedented opportunity to reverse some of the worse impacts of the war for Southern Sudan’s children”.
“Measles is a global public health priority, and this campaign can bring Southern Sudan up to – and beyond – the level of its neighbours in a relatively short space of time”, said Abdullahi Ahmed, Head of Office of WHO in Southern Sudan.
The measles campaign funded by the US Centers for Disease Control , the governments of Canada and Australia and the UN Foundation is a rapid approach to save the children of southern Sudan
Several vehicles and bicycles have been drafted-in to transport heat-sensitive vaccines and mobile teams along dangerous roads throughout the region’s three states.
Measles campaign teams will sporadically spread out for the next 18 months into southern Sudan, giving the single injection to every child between 6 months and 14 years.
In a region where current vaccination stands at 20% of its children, any delay will see yet another generation and a future of a country bleeding from the wounds of a bloody war wiped out.
95% immunization coverage is an ideal condition to break the circle of the deadly measles circulation.
In a region that has for 21 years been plagued by violence, displacements and inter-tribal conflicts, measles has taken its toll on children with impunity.
The signing of a comprehensive peace deal early helped create an enabling environment for this massive life-saving campaign. However insecurity in parts of southern Sudan necessitated rescheduling of the vaccination in those areas to a later date.
* Swangin Bismarck
Assistant Communication officer,
UNICEF, southern Sudan.