Featured Stories
The Brazilian city of Dourados launched the first vaccination campaign against dengue using Takeda’s tetravalent vaccine. Beginning January 3, the exercise—targeting 150,000 residents ages 4-59—is part of a real-world study assessing the vaccine’s benefits, including measuring “collective immunity” in groups that don’t get vaccinated (such as young children and older people), according to O Globo. The city, in Mato Grosso do Sul state, was chosen because of its high dengue burden, sizeable eligible demographic, and quality of primary care and epidemiological surveillance coverage. Doses will be administered at health centers, with the second dose in the two-shot regimen due three months after the first. As of January 25, only 13,673 people had received the vaccine, per Dourados Agora. O Globo; Dourados prefecture; Dourados Agora
Pakistan launched its first nationwide polio campaign of the year on January 8, aiming to reach more than 44.3 million children under age 5. The five-day door-to-door exercise enlisted over 400,000 health personnel. In Punjab, officials targeted 22.6 million children with oral polio drops; in Sindh, 10.3 million; in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 7.5 million; in Balochistan, 2.6 million; in Azad Kashmir, 720,000; in Gilgit-Baltistan, 280,000; and in Islamabad, 420,000. The campaign will continue in the municipalities of Lakki Marwat and Upper and Lower South Waziristan (January 15-19), Tank (January 15-21) and Dera Ismail Khan (January 22-28). In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the campaign was marred by violence on its opening day when an explosive device killed five police officers protecting polio workers, and again later in the month when assailants gunned down a senior polio program official in the province’s Bajaur district. ReliefWeb; Al Jazeera; Arab News
Outbreak Response
Mozambique responded to an ongoing cholera outbreak with a five-day vaccination campaign in nine high-burden districts: Chiure and Montepuez (in Cabo Delgado province); Maringué (in Sofala); Magoé, Moatize and Zumbo (Tete); and Gile, Gurue and Mocuba (Zambezia). The campaign, which began January 8 and has enlisted more than 7,300 personnel, aims to reach 2.2 million people age 1 and above at local health centers, door to door, and in high-pedestrian public areas. AIM; AA; MacaoNews
Zambia launched an OCV campaign in Lusaka on January 16 to stem the tide of cholera cases at the epicenter of an outbreak that began last October and has affected nine of the country’s 10 provinces, per WHO. WHO provided 1.4 million doses of OCV—with an additional 200,000 to come—for the response, which targets children, health workers and people at risk of infection in the worst affected areas. Additionally, UNICEF is coordinating delivery of more than 320,000 oral rehydration packets and additional medical supplies, such as IV fluids, antibiotics and water purification tablets. AP; WHO; Devdiscourse
Zimbabwe launched the first phase of a multiphase OCV campaign on January 29. An initial shipment of 892,286 doses—out of a total of 2.3 million slotted for the country—is planned to be administered in 26 districts. Officials are using a phased approach (focusing on “hotspots”) due to OCV supply and delivery constraints, according to the minister of health. VOA; WHO
Indonesia’s Central and East Java provinces launched anti-polio supplementary immunization activities on January 15. According to WHO, the nOPV2 campaign was a response to cVDPV2 cases reported in late December and early January in both provinces. Government officials are targeting 8.4 million children under age 7: 4,437,679 children in East Java, 3,903,678 in Central Java, and 149,821 in the Sleman district of Yogyakarta. According to local reports, approximately 3.6 million children had received a first dose as of January 17. More than 20 million vaccine doses have been approved for delivery as part of the response, which will see a second round commence on February 19. Ahead of the campaign, officials conducted in-person and online microplanning training and offered social behavior change (SBC) communication trainings, a WhatsApp-based SBC learning support and Q&A service, and an online repository of SBC assets. WHO; Australian Broadcasting Corporation; Polio Info Repository
Ethiopia began a measles vaccination campaign on December 29, targeting more than 2 million children ages 6 months to 10 years. The campaign, which ran through mid-January, took place in 58 outbreak-affected woredas (districts) across eight regions: Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambella, Oromia, Sidama, Somali, South Ethiopia and Southwest Ethiopia Peoples’ region. AfriSquare; WHO
Sri Lanka launched a two-phase supplementary MMR campaign in response to more than 700 measles cases reported since May 2023, per UNICEF. The first phase began January 6 and targeted infants ages 6-9 months in Colombo, Galle, Gampaha, Jaffna, Kalmunai, Kalutara, Kandy, Kurunegala and Matara districts—nine districts representing high-density geographies with reported measles cases. The second phase, on January 20, will include people from additional age groups. WHO declared in 2019 that measles had been eliminated from the country, but a COVID-era lag in routine immunization coverage has led to a rise in cases, per local media. The Island; UNICEF
Local Campaigns
South Sudan began a five-day MDA campaign to tackle onchocerciasis and lymphatic filariasis in Rumbek Central county, Lakes state. The exercise, which began on January 6, targeted more than 221,000 people over age 5 with doses of ivermectin and albendazole. Originally slated for September 2023, the effort was again delayed in December. One Citizen Daily; Radio Tamazuj
Southwestern Kenya’s Narok West subcounty launched a five-day MDA campaign against trachoma on January 15, targeting more than 200,000 residents. The effort provided the drugs in syrup formulation for children ages 1-6 and in tablets for children ages 7-14. Health workers visited schools and churches and performed door-to-door outreach to maximize impact amid heavy rains causing challenging road conditions. Kenya News Agency; Africa Newswire