Over
the heads of chattering women, laughing children and smiling
men, the voice of a Chad Red Cross volunteer booms into the
megaphone.
“We need you to form into three lines and wait until a
doctor has seen your child. When you are done, please step aside
and clear the area!”
Today is vaccination day at the Red Cross camp in Tréguine,
home to more than 8,000 refugees from the troubled Sudanese
province of Darfur, and a large crowd has turned up to participate
or simply enjoy the show.
The atmosphere is full of fun and wonder, apart from the odd
shout of a child obviously less amused by it all.
In spite of the challenges of camp life, and the terrible things
many of these people have recently witnessed, the refugees of
Tréguine seem more than willing to participate, aware,
no doubt, that health interventions such as this polio immunization
drive are crucial to their children’s long-term well-being.
From a joyously disorganised throng, the refugees slowly line
up and the members of the Red Cross medical team finally get
to work. The bewildered children are asked to put their arm
over their head and touch the opposite ear: if they can reach,
then they are over five years old and are removed from the queue.
The vaccination then begins in earnest.
As a Chad Red Cross volunteer leans over to count two drops
from a vial into the expectant mouth of a young girl, children
and mothers further down the line look on, unsure whether they
should be excited or afraid.
Those who have already been subjected to this strange ritual
gleefully compare their fingers, which have been dabbed with
a blue solution to avoid them being vaccinated twice. Another
volunteer writes down the personal details of each child to
compile statistics and assess the impact of the operation.
“A big vaccination drive is always an event,” says
Dr Razack Akadiri, health coordinator for the International
Federation, who has had extensive experience in his 36 years
with the Movement.
“The good humour today is particularly inspiring and shows
how seriously the refugees consider health issues in general
and polio in particular.”
Chad is just one of 23 sub-Saharan African countries to participate
in the polio immunization campaign led by the World Health Organisation
(WHO), which aims to reach 80 million children to eliminate
the disease from the continent by the end of 2005.
The effort is considerably complicated in the region by the
humanitarian crisis in Darfur, which has thrown over one million
people out of their homes, including close to 200,000 who have
fled to Chad. These large population movements have greatly
increased the risks of a major polio epidemic, which could have
devastating consequences on the already vulnerable refugees.
Sixteen cases of polio have been detected so far this year in
Chad and 11 in neighbouring Sudan.
“There is an excellent opportunity to deliver a fatal
blow to polio, as we came very close to doing three years ago,”
says Razack. “In parts of West Africa, we have achieved
95 per cent vaccination coverage, which has effectively removed
the critical mass the disease needs to spread. We need to do
the same in this area.”
Extensive preparation has taken place to inform the target population
and enlist their support for the vaccination drive. The leaders
of the refugee community in Tréguine camp have been briefed
in detail and the organisation of the event prepared with their
collaboration.
“Back home we had very limited access to healthcare, and
many of us were never vaccinated,” explains Mafadhal Ali
Mahamat, the traditional head of one of the 11 quartiers in
the camp. “We have seen too many lives destroyed by polio.”
The results of the day eloquently confirm Mafadhal’s words.
Out of 862 children who were vaccinated against the disease
in the Red Cross camp at Tréguine, 813 had never previously
been reached. These alarming rates of “zero doses”
highlight the relevance of such campaigns, and explain the eagerness
with which they are greeted in the region.
The vaccination drive is not yet over: two booster doses will
be administered at one-month intervals, as well as vitamin A
to strengthen the children’s defences against eye infections.
Up to 98 per cent of the young inhabitants of the camp were
theoretically reached by the measles vaccination previously
done by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
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A
Chad Red Cross volunteer encourages the residents of Tréguine
to wait in line
for the medical team (p12164)
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Children
under five cannot touch the opposite ear with their arm
stretched over their head: a quick way to confirm that
the child is within the target age group. Children over
five are less at
risk from polio and do not require vaccination
(p12166)
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Most
children willingly submit to the perplexing
experience thanks to the time spent explaining the process
to mothers and traditional leaders
(p12167)
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The
refugee children in Tréguine are among 80 million
children in sub-Saharan Africa being immunised against
polio (p12169)
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The
vaccination day passed off in a spirit of fun and good
humour (p12170)
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