Getting vaccines to those who need them most in CAR

The lack of access to vaccines and medicine has pushed people in the Bossangoa Health District to self-medicate putting their lives at unnecessary risks.

Yolande Redangazoui is a health worker at the Bogam Health Post, near Bossangoa. She has seen firsthand how the lack of awareness and availability of medication was leading the population to rely on unfounded plant-based remedies via traditional healers, causing in many cases to drug intoxication, recurrent relapses, and sometimes even death.

Rolling out vaccines, providing cold chain storage and sharing information with the population had become of utmost urgency in the Region. UNICEF, with support from USAID, scaled up its intervention and provided solar fridges and cooling boxes for the health district.

The new equipment aim to increase vaccine storage and support the distribution capacity in health districts, facilities and vaccination points in remote villages. The sanitary facilities were also reinforced by solar lighting kits.

Yolande says that prior to this project, the Registered Health Post had received many cases of people affected by COVID-19 given as the vaccination coverage of the health area was limited.

“In our health station, we are faced with every case of illness, even COVID-19. People come to us without really knowing what’s wrong. As a life-giving person, I want people in my community to be educated and vaccinated against COVID-19 and other diseases. Since the launch of the project and with the help of community actors, including health workers, women focal points, and community mobilisers, the community understood the importance of getting vaccinated and was able to do so.” she states

By the end of 2022, with funding from USAID, 58,715 doses of COVID-19 vaccines were delivered, stored and administered to those who came to vaccination sessions in the Bossangoa Health District.

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