UNICEF sets up central cold chain for vaccines in South Sudan
Oct 10, 2006 (NAIROBI) –The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday it has set up a central cold chain in Juba, the capital of south Sudan, to enable all ministries and relief agencies to gain access to vaccines directly from inside the vast region instead of Lokichoggio which served as the main hub during the war.
In a statement issued in Nairobi, the UN agency said it would help establish the store in Juba so that all ministries and non-government organization partners implementing the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) could provide timely responses to vaccine preventable emergencies.
“The cold chain will for the first time ever enable fast and timely responses to vaccine preventable emergencies such as outbreaks of Yellow Fever and Meningitis when they occur,” the statement said.
According to the UNICEF, while progress has been made in the last five years in supplemental immunization activities (SIAs)-measles, maternal and neonatal and polio campaigns, routine EPI had very low coverage of about 20 percent due to inadequate logistics, difficult terrains, bad weather conditions and inadequate trained personnel and insufficient resources.
“With the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Accord) and opening up of so many areas, the access to vaccines from inside southern Sudan by the counties and partners that will implement EPI in the new areas became an obvious challenge,” the UNICEF said.
It said the cold chain have the capacity of storing 4.7 million doses of vaccines. Fourteen deep freezers with a total storage capacity of 7.0 million doses of vaccine have also been installed.
“The UNICEF has commenced an intensive capacity-building effort to ensure the availability of trained health personnel in all aspects of EPI at the state level for a start, to be later followed by similar efforts at county level.”
“UNICEF remains committed to supporting the immunization program of Southern Sudan until such a time when the infrastructure which has been badly damaged during the two decades of war are re-constructed and rehabilitated,” it said.
(Xinhua)