45 months Fighter gets the first Life-Saving Dose of Vaccine
Ngamdjakwa learned through the Community Health Worker that a vaccination campaign would be organized in Kaola, a community in her neighborhood in Yagoua Health District, Far North Region of Cameroon. She decided to forgo farm work to take her 45-month-old daughter, Fighter, to receive the life-saving vaccine. “I kept postponing taking Fighter for vaccination, and when I had the opportunity to travel to Bougaye Health Facility, I was told she had passed the age to be vaccinated,” Ngamdjakwa explained.
Bouyage Health Facility focused on implementing the routine immunization calendar that vaccinates children from zero to twenty-three months. Though the catch-up plan covers children till 59 months, the facility does not plan for such sessions due to limited resources.
Ngamjakwa attributed the delays to wrong prioritization. She defended herself by saying she could not afford the transportation cost to travel over 30 km to the closest health facility to vaccinate her child.
The RAISE for Sahel team worked with the hospital administrators to follow up on the catch-up vaccination calendar as stipulated, ensure they had adequate supplies to cover the extra children, and capacitated the Community Health Workers in Kaola to educate the population on the vaccination calendar and its target population. Thanks to these activities, Ngamdjakwa learned that her child was at risk of an epidemic outbreak and that she could salvage the situation. “I panicked when I realized my child could die from vaccine-preventable diseases. I had seen children die or develop complications in my communities, but I did not understand why.” The fighter’s mother worried.
On the day of the outreach organized in Kaolo, Ngamjakwa left early for the announced site. She was the first to arrive at the venue. “I was informed it would start at 8 a.m., but I just couldn’t wait at home again.” The fighter was amongst the first of the 25 zero-dose children vaccinated on that faithful day.
“Thank you for giving my daughter a chance to be protected” Ngamjakwa beamed.
Thanks to the GAVI Zero Dose Immunisation Project implemented in Cameroon, unimmunized children in hard-to-reach, underserved communities like Kaolo can now pride themselves on their immunity against vaccine-preventable diseases.
R4S Cameroon capacitates its M&E Teams on Data Collection Procedures
With the kickstart of immunization activities in Cameroon, the R4S brought its M&E teams to capacitate them on the data collection pathways to ensure quality and timeliness. During this meeting, which brought together Regional staff, the EPI M&E lead, and the Commcare consultant, the participants were drilled on data collection processes and the use of the Commcare app.
“This training was timely, and it would help us bridge the gaps we were already identifying on the field with the kickstart of immunization activities. Our teams can now hit the ground running, and we are there to provide them with the support needed to achieve their goals,” Banlack Hilary, the R4S M&E lead expressed his satisfaction at the end of the session.
This training would go a long way to empower the team to track the R4S efforts in identifying and immunizing Zero-Dose children in the hard-to-reach, underserved, conflict-infested areas to ensure Cameroon reaches the last mile.