Disease control, elimination and eradication activities

Supplementary immunization activities

Supplementary immunisation activities are carried out when there is a special need to improve the coverage of a certain vaccine in a certain area. Measles vaccination and Vitamin A supplementation campaigns are being conducted as part of an overall Ministry of Health measles control strategy, with prioritisation given to areas affected by drought.

In order to reach the target of a polio free world by the year 2005, polio eradication campaigns are conducted throughout the country and more recently in selected areas. More information about the polio activities can be found under Polio Eradication Initiative.

Preliminary results of the measles SIAs in Oromia and Benishangul Gumuz Regional States

As part of the accelerated measles control programme and the general emergency response to the drought situation, Ethiopia started implementing measles and vitamin A supplementary immunisation activities (SIAs) in phases in November 2002. The first phase of the SIAs in 2004 was conducted in 4 zones of Oromia and all zones of Benishangul Gumuz Regional State from 22nd of March to 8th of April 2004. The SIAs, whose goal was to reach at least 90% of children aged 6 months to 14 years with measles vaccine and vitamin A supplements, ensuring safe injection practises and proper waste disposal in the process, were conducted using the fixed post strategy. Preliminary results showed that a total of 3,228,722 children aged 6 months to 14 years and 1,156,135 children aged 6 to 59 months received measles vaccine and vitamin A supplementation respectively in 88 woredas of 9 zones during the campaign.

Measles vaccine coverage rate was 93% and 37 cases of AEFI were identified (table I) Despite the problems encountered during the implementation of the campaign, it was able to achieve its goal of vaccinating at least 90% of children 6 months to 14 years in the zones. Looking back, it can be concluded that the dedication and hard work of zonal health department teams, woreda co-ordinators, supervisors and teams, good pre-campaign logistic assessment and cold chain planning, good injection safety procedures and waste management and good social mobilisation were some of the major strengths that contributed to the successful implementation of these campaigns. However, shortage of manpower, poor AEFI monitoring, and geographic barriers were major problems encountered during the campaigns. To improve the quality and coverage of future measles SIAs in the country, better planning for manpower and a more effective AEFI monitoring system need to be established in zones and woredas prior to the commencement of such campaigns.