SUVA, 28 April 2017 - UNICEF is providing four vehicles to the Vanuatu Ministry of Health to support health workers in their efforts to keep infants safe from vaccine-preventable diseases. The vehicles are being presented on the occasion of World Immunisation Week that runs annually from 24 – 30 April.
UNICEF Pacific Representative, Sheldon Yett said, “Health workers need to be able to reliably travel to the communities which depend on them.” He added, “The four vehicles will provide transport to ensure health workers are able to reach and vaccinate every last child in remote communities of Vanuatu.”
Maternal Child Health Clinics in the capital Port Vila and the Northern District Hospital in Luganville will each receive a vehicle to support nurses for outreach activities and follow up on children who have dropped out of the immunisation programme. One of the more difficult and remote areas with a wide catchment area, Sara Mauri Health Centre in Santo, will receive a vehicle to support both outreach and general emergency referrals. The fourth vehicle will facilitate vaccine supply from the national cold store to respective provincial levels.
“Many challenges contribute to high dropout rates in Vanuatu that result in children failing to receive all of their scheduled vaccines. One of these is transport,” said Mr. Yett. “By facilitating greater access to communities by nurses undertaking immunisation programmes, we believe the Ministry of Health will be better able to achieve full vaccination coverage,” he added.
With support to routine immunisation programmes, UNICEF works with partners to ensure babies from birth to 12 months receive regular health checks and immunisation through clinics and outreach to protect them from vaccine-preventable illnesses.