UNICEF vaccinates children and women despite war

The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Liberia has ended a campaign to vaccinate 128,000 children under five years old and 230,000 women of child-bearing age around the capital, Monrovia, despite the recent escalation in fighting between government troops and rebels. Cyrille Niameogo, UNICEF Country Director for Liberia, told IRIN that the vaccination against measles and tetanus was carried out by staff who remained in Monrovia after UN agencies evacuated their international staff last month. "UNICEF's national staff who form 75 percent of our team continued to work. This is the first of a two stage campaign that will target 1.4 million children throughout Liberia," Niameogo said. "We used our limited resources for the immunisation and are now trying to mobilise other resources for the second stage." To cover funding gaps and conclude the vaccination campaign, UNICEF-Liberia urgently needed US $335,000, Niameogo said. According to UNICEF, more than a century of under-development and two decades of political turmoil, continuing civil strife and acute insecurity have left Liberia's health services devastated. In December 2001, nearly three out of every 10 children died before the age of five and only 39 percent of children who lived, were vaccinated before they were one year old. UNICEF said only 32 registered doctors, 185 nurses, 120 physicians assistants and 42 trained nurses are available for the entire country in the public health sector. Nearly two thirds of the people are illiterate and 60 percent of children 3-18 years and 81 percent between 6-12 years are out of school. Throughout Liberia's years of conflict, children have been particularly exposed to extreme situations, according to UNICEF. There are 60,000 children in displaced people's centres and thousands on the streets. About 20 percent of those under 15 do not live with a biological parent while 15,000 are directly involved in war either as soldiers or abductees as sex or domestic workers. Since March, when rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) and the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) intensified their war against President Charles Taylor, urgent health needs among displaced people have increased. In response to the current emergency, the agency has distributed non-food items and shelter equipment to at least 150,000 vulnerable people in Monrovia, registered pregnant women, provided 75,000 dehydration solution sachets and essential drugs to hospitals. It has also distributed high-energy biscuits, installed water bladders and repaired water wells. "We flew in supplies by plane and are trying to mobilise some more," Niameogo said.