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Nairobi, Kenya, November 14, 2009: Somali children and women received a
high-impact life-saving health package during the Child health Days
Campaign in the Afgoye Corridor, a 30 kilometer stretch of road west of
Mogadishu and the world’s most densely populated settlement for the
displaced.
At least 46,000 children under-five and 37,000 women of child-bearing
age benefited during the five-day campaign. Afgoye currently hosts over
524,000 displaced people driven out of their homes due to the conflict
in Mogadishu and the south, who are enduring harsh living conditions and
lacking even the most basic social services.
The Child Health Days Campaigns are implemented across Somalia with
support from UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) in close
collaboration with local authorities and NGO partners. In a country
where routine immunization coverage is amongst the lowest in the world,
the nation-wide intervention aims to immunize every under-five child
against measles, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough and tetanus, in
addition to provision of Vitamin A, de-worming tablets and nutritional
screening for referral of malnourished children to feeding programmes.
Women of child bearing are immunized against neonatal tetanus. The Child
Health Days package also includes oral rehydration salts to treat
diarrhea and water purification tablets.
“Our joint success in implementing this large-scale outreach in the
Afgoye area is a testament to how we can make a difference in Somalia
even in the most difficult of circumstances.” said Ms. Rozanne Chorlton,
UNICEF Representative to Somalia. “Afgoye corridor is one of the
locations in Somalia where humanitarian access is very challenging, but
it is also where the impact of such an intervention is extremely
critical due to the high density of population. Therefore bringing the
Child Health Days to Afgoye was key priority and thanks to the
determination of communities and to UNICEF’s and WHO’s extended
partnerships on the ground, vulnerable children and women were reached
with crucial services.”
More than 200 vaccinators and 300 health workers implemented the
campaign in Afgoye, making this large-scale programme possible despite
poor infrastructure and lack of appropriate health facilities.
The Child Health Days were launched in Somalia in December 2008 reaching
during the first round over one million children under five and 800,000
women across the country. The intervention is repeated every six months
to help promote child survival and boost immunization rates, in addition
to promoting demand for public health services among communities. The
campaign has already contributed to improving immunization rates by
achieving coverage of 60 to 80 per cent, while immunization rates in
Somalia over the last ten years have been in the range of 20-30 per
cent.
Source: Unicef, Nov 11, 2009
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