Successful measles vaccination campaign

A newly released independent report has confirmed that an anti-measles campaign in Iraq has been successful in immunising 97 percent of targeted children. The task was carried out under difficult circumstances and amid deteriorating security following an outbreak of the highly contagious and killer disease in the southern governorates at the start of the year. It affected more than 1,000 school children, the group most at risk. The Iraqi Ministry of Health (MoH) organised the catch-up campaign that targeted 5.2 million children aged between six and 12. The independent report was carried out by the Iraqi Red Crescent. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) provided support for the campaign, which began on 13 March in the southern governorates and on 24 March in Arbil, Dahuk and Sulaymaniyah in the north of the country. UNICEF provided vaccines, syringes and supplies, while WHO assisted in the planning of the campaign and guided the MoH team in the development of campaign materials such as messages for TV, radio and newspapers. The world health body also conducted training for the immunisation teams and for 450 Iraqi Red Crescent Society volunteers that monitored and evaluated the campaign. In total, 3,000 people, using 400 vehicles, took part in the effort, which included school and house-to-house visits. "This campaign shows that good progress is being made and that Iraqis are taking control," Dr Naeema Al-Gaseer, head of the WHO Iraq office, told IRIN in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Local people said they were encouraged by the information campaign. Esmaa Mohammed, a mother of five in the Iraqi capital, took all of her children in for measles vaccinations, after seeing them advertised on television. "I think vaccinations are very important for children, because it protects them from disease," Mohammed told IRIN as she waited at the Central Teaching Hospital for Children in the Kharkh neighbourhood of western Baghdad. She was waiting to see if a DPT (diphtheria, polio and tetanus) vaccination was available for her six-month-old son. "I know that I should take my children to the hospital for the vaccinations that they need." The measles campaign was well promoted with posters and TV advertisements, Dr Maha Nouri, director of the technical department at the hospital in charge of vaccinations, told IRIN. But although this campaign had been successful, there are fears that other issues could prevent such efforts in the future. All too often, vaccines go missing, Nouri explained. For example, there was no DPT vaccine available for Mohammed's son Ahmed Imad, either when he turned four months old, or now, when he is six months old, she said. Babies are supposed to receive three DPT vaccinations - at two, four and six months. "We are continuing the vaccination process, but we suffer from a shortage of some vaccines," Nouri said. "Sometimes one month we have it, the next month we don't." Along with the DPT shortage, the hospital often does not receive vaccinations for tuberculosis, hepatitis and whooping cough, she said. That's because they get diverted and sold before reaching the hospital due to corruption, according to Salam Abed, one of the nurses who gives the injections. "The shortage is because our supply chain is weak," Abed told IRIN. "Before Saddam Hussein was deposed, we didn't see any such shortage. The MoH must take responsibility for this." A recent MoH investigation found that millions of dollars worth of medicines were being taken from state-run warehouses to be sold in private pharmacies. A recently named inspector-general found discrepancies and ordered the investigation. The inspector-general has now said that an inventory system should be put in place as a result of the findings.