The
Chad Red Cross and International Federation have taken part
in a 12-day campaign to vaccinate some 88,000 people against
meningitis, following an outbreak of the disease in three camps
in eastern Chad for refugees from Sudan’s Darfur province.
The campaign, which involved a number of national and international
agencies, targeted the populations of Tréguine, Bredjing,
Farchana camps, which are home to one third of the 213,000 refugees
who have crossed into eastern Chad from Sudan, as well as the
local population within a five km radius of the camps.
The Tréguine camp is run by the Red Cross.
Nineteen suspected cases of meningitis were reported in the
camps during January, six of which had been confirmed. One person
had died from the disease
The vaccination drive began on 26 January and was conducted
by Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) and the International
Federation, with support from the World Health Organisation
and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
The overall coverage rate, according to the WHO, was 89 per
cent. In Tréguine camp, the rate was more than 95 per
cent, the highest figure in the whole campaign. In total some
21,000 people in Tréguine and the nearby village of Hadjer
Hadid were vaccinated by the Red Cross.
The Chad Red Cross and the International Federation were involved
in all stages of the campaign: social mobilisation, planning,
training of the vaccination teams logistics, the campaign proper
and the evaluation.
An element in the success of the campaign was the social mobilisation
carried out by the Chad red Cross volunteers, who went door-to-door
informing the population about the campaign and encouraging
them to protect themselves against this highly contagious disease.
During the campaign, they also organised transport to ensure
that the sick, elderly or disabled could also receive their
vaccinations.
It was not only the refugees and local population who benefited
from the campaign. Some 200 humanitarian workers from organisations
working in the refugee operation were also vaccinated at the
International Federation’s offices in Abéché.
“I’m very satisfied. It’s our mission in the
Red Cross to work proactively to prevent disasters.
It would be terrible failure on our part if someone working
for any of the humanitarian organisations assisting the refugees
had contracted meningitis,” says Federation health coordinator,
Dr Razack. “For this reason we decided to vaccinate not
only Red Cross personnel, but staff working for the other organisations
in eastern Chad.”
Meningitis, a disease caused by bacteria, is common in sub-Saharan
Africa during the dry season, which runs from October to May.
The high concentration of people in the overcrowded refugee
camps in eastern Chad made for a particularly dangerous situation.
Several hundred people died in a major meningitis outbreak occurred
in Chad in 1998. Further outbreaks occurred in 2000 and 2001.
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