Immunization
Out of the 13.2 million children under the age of one covered under routine immunization in 2010, more than 20 per cent, or 2.7 million, were left unprotected. Most of these children were from remote areas, as well as urban slums. Children affected by conflict, and those whose families and communities refused to having them immunized, also made up that group. Across the region, nearly 90 per cent of all un-immunized children are residing in nine countries – Angola, Ethiopia, Uganda, Madagascar, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan and Tanzania. Between 2009 and 2010, six out of 21 in ESA reached the GIVS goal of 90 per cent of children fully immunized through routine services at national level. Another 11 are on track to attain this goal. Angola, the only re-established polio transmission country in ESA made significant progress in 2011. It reduced the number of reported wild poliovirus cases from 33 in 2010 to just five cases in 2011. No wild poliovirus has been reported from Angola in 2012. As of July 2012, eight countries – Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe – have introduced the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) into their routine immunization programmes, while Botswana, Rwanda and South Africa introduced both PCV and the rotavirus vaccine. Rwanda remains the only country in the region to have introduced the human papillomavirus vaccine (HPV) for girls aged 9–13, to protect them against cervical cancer. As of September 2012, close to 9 million children aged 6 months to 14 years in four ESA countries were vaccinated against measlesIn 2010, 10 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) reached routine immunization coverage rates of 80 percent or more for the six major childhood diseases, compared to 11 countries in 2009. Significant progress to eliminate maternal and neonatal tetanus has been made in ESA. In 2012, Tanzania joined 14 other countries that have been validated for elimination of the disease.
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