Preventing polio — and cholera — in Iraq
UNICEF and partners take an innovative approach to the double threat of disease facing children and families in Iraq.
It’s early morning in Darashakran refugee camp in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and a small group of vaccinators is going door to door talking to families. As well as insulated boxes with the polio vaccine, they’re carrying a big bag filled with toys and games.
Two of the team members are dressing as cartoon characters and they joke about the heat as they climb into the thick padded suits.
Mohammed, a three year old Syrian refugee from Hassakah is one of the first to receive his two drops of oral polio vaccine, after which the team will color his fingernail with a black marker to show that’s he’s had the vaccination. The shy little boy is not very happy about all the attention, so the health worker Rasan, himself a refugee, rewards him with a small toy and a smile quickly returns to Mohammed’s face.
As they move around the camp the vaccinators gain a following of children, who are enchanted by the novelty of the cartoon characters and run up to them, pulling their tails and laughing before dashing away.
Some families are not home when the team visits, so they mark the door to remind them where to come for a follow up visit.
Scenes like this played out in camps, informal settlements, towns and cities all across Iraq last week as the Ministry of Health, with UNICEF and WHO support, set the goal of vaccinating 5.8 million children under the age of five in just five days.
Polio re-emerged in Iraq in 2014, which up until then had been free of the disease for 14 years.
With support from donors including Germany’s KfW, the European Commission — Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO), Rotary International, and Sweden’s SIDA, UNICEF leads in community mobilization and vaccine delivery for the polio outbreak response. With only two cases reported in January and April 2014, Iraq has had no children paralyzed by polio for over one year. Polio outbreaks present a terrible threat to children and to the global polio eradication initiative, so in the midst of a conflict which has forced 3.1 million people from their homes and left more than 8 million in need of humanitarian assistance, Iraq faces an immense challenge.
However, polio vaccination teams still manage to reach over 90 per cent of children during house to house campaigns. This time though the teams had a dual task. Cholera has returned to Iraq and since late September has been spreading rapidly.
Acting quickly to respond to the cholera outbreak, the teams carrying out polio activities were also tasked with discussing cholera prevention and treatment with key community members, and in five days delivered pamphlets on cholera prevention to 1.5 million households around the country.
“UNICEF and partners have taken an innovative approach to the double threat of disease facing children and families,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF’s Representative in Iraq.
“In the context of mass displacement and continuing violence, over the past 18 months the humanitarian community has succeeded in administering 36 million doses of oral polio vaccine and doubling the country’s cold chain capacity. Combining existing activities such as we have done with polio and cholera can help scant resources make a greater impact, and ultimately save more lives.”
In Darashakran camp Mohammed’s mother Randa receives a pamphlet. Randa is grateful for the information and support for the twin health threats facing her children.
“We received information about polio, and we were also told by the vaccination team that cholera was spreading in other areas and what we can do to stay safe. So we took protective measures. We’re preparing ourselves so that our family doesn’t get this disease,” she said.
Chris Niles is a Consultant with UNICEF Iraq.
Direct donations for UNICEF Iraq: https://support.unicef.org/campaign/donate-now/donate
