A polio vaccination campaign is protecting millions of children in Malawi
The global marathon to eradicate polio is on its final lap. After millennia of living with poliovirus and the suffering the paralysis causes, today, nearly everyone lives in a polio-free country. Since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative in 1988, the number of people afflicted with polio has declined by 99.9%. The finishing line…, To succeed in eradicating polio, we must act now. , The coming five years are crucial – they may provide the last opportunity to eradicate the disease. Cases of polio have been recently reemerging worldwide, including in Malawi. There are a number of factors behind those outbreaks, including conflict and displacement, and the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, in addition to vaccine…, Protecting children from a polio outbreak in Malawi, Over the past few decades, Malawi has illustrated the incredible strides that have been made. Until November 2021, the nation had gone three decades without a recorded case of wild polio. But during that month, a 3-year-old child, living in Malawi’s capital Lilongwe, was diagnosed with wild polio. The virus affected the nerve cells in her spinal…, Millions of children in Malawi have been protected from polio, Since the vaccination drive began, about 9 million children in Malawi have received a polio vaccination. Much of the credit for that response lies in the hands of health care workers. Health surveillance assistants Dessie Chisangwi (left) and Matilda Mlumpwa (right) are helping to lead the door-to-door polio vaccine campaign. Health surveillance…, How technology is playing an important role in this polio eradication campaign, A successful immunization campaign requires knowing which communities have low vaccination rates. To help with that data collection, a smartphone app called Rapid Pro is being used. Health care workers are able to track things like how many children were or weren’t vaccinated against polio in a household and how many vaccinations were administered…, The addition of cold storage facilities has been essential, In addition to expanding the availability of phone technology and supplying the polio vaccines, UNICEF has also installed 270 new vaccine refrigerators in Malawi. That’s helped to support cold chain technicians like Joackim Ghambi. He works in the Zomba district office in the southern part of the country. Scenes from inside a vaccine cold storage…, On the frontline, protecting children from polio, As the polio vaccines reach communities across Malawi, they’re then in the hands of health workers like Beza Belayneh. He’s a consultant with the World Health Organization and originally from Ethiopia. He’s been working in Malawi for a number of years now and is stationed at St. Joseph’s Hospital, just west of the city of Blantyre. Beza Belayneh…, These are the caregivers that are protecting their children, Tionge Wittika is among the caregivers protecting their child from polio. She brought her 4-month-old daughter to St. Joseph’s Hospital to get the vaccine. Tionge Wittika holds her daughter Arianna after she received her dose of the oral polio vaccine. Tionge Wittika holds her daughter Arianna after she received her dose of the oral polio…, To prevent further outbreaks, more bold action is needed, The fact is there is no cure for polio. As long as the disease exists, it’s a threat to children everywhere. But as this campaign in Malawi shows, there is a way to help prevent it. That’s by making sure that all children, wherever they are in the world, have access to the polio vaccine. As a global community, we are so close to achieving a…
