UNICEF (UN Children’s Fund)
Media Release
Post-tsunami immunization campaign to keep Samoa’s children safe
Apia, 21 October 2009. – The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health
Organisation (WHO) are giving full support to a Samoan Government nationwide
measles and Vitamin A immunization campaign that aims to reach more than 32,000
children.
The six-week campaign starts on 26 October in the tsunami-affected districts of
Lalomanu in the southeast and Poutasi in southern Samoa. It aims to immunize
32,374 children between the ages of six months and 4 years 11 months – the most at-
risk group.
UNICEF is providing essential equipment for the campaign, including vaccines,
Vitamin A, syringes, and safety boxes, as well as cold-chain equipment such as
vaccine carriers and cool boxes that are vital to keep vials of vaccines at a constant
temperature in the tropical heat. WHO is providing technical and logistical support.
The Samoan National Health Service is conducting the campaign in conjunction with
the Ministry of Health and providing trained health professionals to administer
vaccinations.
UNICEF Health and Nutrition Consultant, Philip Mann, says that emergencies such as
the tsunami that hit Samoa on 29 September can compromise the health of children,
rendering them very susceptible to disease.
“We know that countries recovering from a natural disaster are more prone to
communicable diseases due to affected infrastructure and interruption of routine
immunization schedules.
“A national campaign is important because it reduces the likelihood of any individual
measles case spreading to other children, keeping the population safer. A mass
vaccination campaign is also among the most cost-effective preventive public health
measures available.
“Vitamin A is administered along with the measles vaccination as it is a proven
intervention that significantly increases children’s resistance to infection, particularly
measles and diarrheal diseases.”
Mr Mann says the campaign is about protecting vulnerable children and supporting
their right to survival and good health.
About 30 senior nursing staff – two from each district throughout Samoa, including
volunteers from the private sector – were briefed in Apia yesterday about the
campaign.
