Featured Stories
Nigeria’s Lagos state kicked off an integrated anti-measles campaign on June 15. Targeting about 5 million children, the campaign will provide measles vaccination and vitamin A supplements to children under age 5, routine immunizations to those up to 23 months, and Covid-19 shots to adults ages 18 and older. The effort will comprise two eight-day streams, each covering 10 LGAs: from June 17-24 in Agege, Ajeromi, Alimosho, Amuwo-Odofin, Badagry, Ibeju, Kosofe, Lagos Mainland, Lagos Island and Surulere; and June 27-July 4 in Apapa, Epe, Eti-Osa, Ifako-Ijaiye, Ikeja, Ikorodu, Mushin, Oshodi-Isolo, Ojo and Somolu. A total of 1,800 vaccination teams will serve each stream, providing services from fixed and temporary fixed posts that include public and selected private hospitals, schools, religious houses, and the homes of influential community leaders. The Nation; The Guardian
Kenya this year celebrates a decade of deworming under its National School-Based Deworming Programme (NSBDP). Jointly led by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, the program gives children ages 2-14 (regardless of enrollment status) access to free deworming treatment by teachers at schools, reaching up to 6 million kids annually. This year, the NSBDP aims to provide albendazole tablets to 5.7 million children in 17 counties and 112 subcounties across the country. Kenya News Agency
Outbreak Response
Somalia began the first round of a cholera vaccination campaign on June 14. The effort focuses on nine high-risk districts currently facing outbreaks: Afgoi, Baidoa, Daynile, Dharkeneley, Hodan, Jowhar, Marka, Wadajir and Wanlaweyn. The initial five-day drive targeted 934,511 people ages 1 and above (including pregnant women and internally displaced persons) with OCV. Within a few weeks, a second round will offer second doses to populations reached in round one. WHO Somalia
South Sudan’s Juba county (in Central Equatoria state) launched the first round of an oral cholera vaccination campaign on June 14, aiming to reach over 633,000 people ages 1 year and older over five days. WHO South Sudan; IOM South Sudan
Canada’s Quebec province expanded its monkeypox vaccination campaign on June 14 to all men who have sex with men, the population thought to be at highest risk for the disease. Previously, the campaign focused on people exposed to the illness, those with multiple male partners, or attendees of events where cases had surfaced. Quebec’s largest city, Montreal, is considered the epicenter of the North American monkeypox outbreak, with 126 confirmed cases as of mid-June. Quebec received 40,000 doses for the targeted campaign, with up to 25,000 doses reserved for Montreal. Since late May, approximately 3,000 people in the province have been vaccinated for the disease. Montreal Gazette; Toronto Star
Local Campaigns
Pakistan ran its second National Immunization Days (NIDs) of the year from May 23-27, reaching over 43 million children under 5. Over 300,000 health workers went house to house during the five-day campaign to deliver oral polio vaccinations and vitamin A supplements. As of mid-June, a third vaccination campaign was underway in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP)—North and South Waziristan, DI Khan, Bannu, Tank and Lakki Marwat—in response to a wild poliovirus outbreak in May. Children up to age 10 are being vaccinated at all entry and exit points of southern KP; meanwhile, officials have launched intensified contact tracing and virus surveillance activities. PPEP (1); PPEP (2)
India conducted its first Sub-national Immunization Day of the year on June 19, providing oral polio drops to a targeted 39 million children under age 5 in some 11 states: Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. The government also announced the introduction of injectable IPV into its routine immunization program. Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Somalia ran the second round of a national polio immunization drive June 5-8. The effort targeted 3.5 million children under age 5 with mOPV2 drops in all districts in the south and central parts of the country (excluding Puntland and Somaliland). For four days, over 20,664 polio vaccinators went house to house to administer oral drops; in addition, 4,090 supervisors and 10,333 social mobilizers monitored the quality of the campaigns and conducted community outreach and engagement efforts. WHO Somalia
Bangladesh launched an oral cholera vaccination campaign on June 26, aiming to reach 2.3 million people over age 1 (excluding pregnant women) with two doses of OCV. The campaign’s first phase will be conducted in five diarrhea-prone areas of the capital: Dakshinkhan, Jatrabari, Mirpur, Mohammadpur and Sabujbag. TBS News
Nigeria’s Adamawa state began its seasonal malaria chemoprevention campaign across 21 LGAs, targeting 977,843 children ages 3 months-59 months with antimalarial drugs during peak transmission season. Over the four-round campaign, every child will receive a monthly dose in June, July, August and September. Daily Post
Syria conducted a national vaccination campaign June 5-9. The initiative targeted unvaccinated children ages 1-5 with routine inoculations against polio, tuberculosis, tetanus, measles, rubella, diphtheria, mumps, whooping cough, hepatitis C, H. influenzae, meningitis, pneumonia, septicemia and otitis media. During the five-day campaign, 1,209 health centers, 777 field teams and 9,500 health workers were mobilized, reaching over 775,000 children. Syria Arab News Agency; UNICEF Syria
Zambia conducted a polio immunization mop-up campaign in early June. The campaign immunized close to 500,000 children missed during the main vaccination drive, which reached 4.5 million. During the two-day mop-up effort, independent monitors—professionals from outside the health sector, often teachers or agriculturalists—checked to see if children received OPV drops, alerting vaccination teams to revisit homes if needed. Mop-up priority zones typically include areas with high population mobility, such as agricultural areas where children may miss a vaccination round because they work during the day. WHO Zambia
Nigeria conducted cross-border anti-polio campaigns in May as part of an initiative to improve immunization activities in border settlements. From May 14-17, Ogun state ran an integrated polio outbreak response campaign in three LGAs (Imeko-Afon, Ipokia and Yewa North) along the country’s boundary with Benin—an effort that reached 4,670 children with oral polio drops while also administering vitamin A supplements and Covid-19 shots to eligible children and adults. Meanwhile, in Cross Rivers state, 4,888 children under 5 were vaccinated in nomadic pastoral settlements in six LGAs sharing a border with Cameroon. WHO Nigeria
Campaign Calendar Highlights
We have just launched two new Special Dashboards, one focusing on Covid-19 campaign vaccination rollouts, and another providing insight on historical campaign performance by country and disease area. Your feedback is heartily encouraged: we want to hear your thoughts on making this tool as useful as possible for your work. Drop us a note at hce@linksbridge.com.”