For Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) to benefit children and women, vaccines must be stored at the right temperature from the manufacturer to the service delivery point to preserve their potency. Yakobo Kawesi, the Emergency Health Coordinator, Africa Humanitarian Action, Bujubuli Health Centre III, mentions that stocking vaccines alone is not enough, the vaccines further need to be stored well at health facilities, during transition to community outreaches, and transported in time if they are to remain effective to the beneficiaries. This is cold chain management.
UNICEF with funding from UN CERF has supported effective cold chain management at the health facility that serves both refugees and host populations. The support comprised of a solar powered refrigerator complete with solar panels, cooler boxes with ice packs and motorcycles that health workers use to reach every child with the right vaccines at the right temperature.
Every day is immunization day at Bujubuli Health Centre III because of the high number of children including new arrivals. With UNICEF support, vaccines have been availed, their storage improved and transportation provided to ensure beneficiaries don’t miss out on the much-needed vaccination. Nothing will deter the health workers from reaching the last child (refugees and those in host communities) with vaccines, not the numbers, not the terrain, not the swamps, among other hurdles.
Francis Habyaremye, EPI focal person, prepare vaccines before setting off for the immunization session at the health facility. With the recent refugee influx from the Democratic Republic of Congo, the number of children and women to be reached with life-saving vaccines has shot up. Thanks to UNICEF, sufficient vaccines have been procured and their storage is no longer a problem with the new solar powered refrigerator.
From the refrigerator, before immunization takes places, the vaccines should be stored and transported at the right temperatures. To facilitate this, UNICEF has provided vaccine carriers and cold boxes with ice packs that protect the vaccines. “Vaccines should always be stored at the temperatures otherwise they become dangerous to the beneficiaries,” Kahesi stressed.
For caregivers that fail to bring their children to the health facility, the committed health workers, using UNICEF-provided motorcycles, reach them with life-saving vaccines through outreaches and door-to-door immunization drives. Many are from hard-to-reach places.
No place too far to reach beneficiaries with vaccines. The health workers, endure the dusty and bumpy road network with vaccine carriers loaded with vaccines. The vaccines are safe and will save children from vaccine preventable diseases.
At some point, they abandon the motorcycles and waddle through swamps to reach the last child. They are determined to have every child vaccinated. “My dream is hear that all children complete their immunization doses on time. That way they will be protected from vaccine preventable diseases,” says Francis Habyaremye, EPI focal person, Bujubuli Health Centre III.
At the outreach posts, mothers are happily waiting for the immunization services, the health workers have arrived! Children are vaccinated, dewormed and weighed to monitor their growth. Despite the distances, the vaccines are still safe and potent, thanks to the UNICEF-provided vaccine carriers.
The health workers also move door-to-door, targeting those that have missed out on their vaccination at the outreaches. They don’t want to leave any child out.
With the improvement in vaccine management, 26,441 children — refugees and those in host communities in Kyegegwa District, have been reached with the critical vaccines such as BCG, DPT3, Polio and measles among others, protecting them from the killer diseases.
