New immunisation campaign launched

Poor health coverage and bad road networks pose a challenge to immunising nine million children in Mozambique, a senior health official told IRIN. The children are part of a national immunisation campaign against measles and polio, launched last week in the capital, Maputo, by President Armando Guebuza. The Ministry of Health hopes to be able to declare Mozambique polio-free by the end of 2005. "To vaccinate almost nine million children is a tremendous undertaking in a country where the health network coverage is limited, the population is dispersed and mainly rural, and where roads are poor or non-existent," said Martinho Dgedge, deputy national director of health. Almost half Mozambique's 18 million people do not have access to basic healthcare. Dgedge said a nationwide social mobilisation campaign via the media, which started on 7 April, was an integral part of the immunisation drive. About 5,000 medical personnel will drive the campaign, while an additional 33,000 activists will create awareness to ensure that every remote corner is covered. Under the immunisation drive all children aged between 9 months and 14 years will be vaccinated against measles; children up to five years against polio; and children under 5 years of age will receive vitamin A supplements. The campaign, which kicks off in the northern provinces in July, should have covered the country by September. At present around 246 children out of every 1,000 die before their fifth birthday, mainly from preventable diseases, including measles. According to the Demographic and Health Survey, in 2003 only 69.6 percent of children aged between 12 to 23 months had received the three doses of polio vaccination required to secure effective protection. The International Measles Partnership - which includes the UN Children's Fund, the World Heath Organisation, the American Red Cross, the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the UN Foundation - has contributed US $6.4 million to the campaign.