Humanly possible: on the road to finally eradicating polio
Across the country, people are mobilizing to vaccinate every child under the age of 15 during the first round of vaccination activities against polio in all 23 regions.
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In the commune of Ambolomoty, located in northwest Madagascar, about twenty volunteers divided into nine teams gather early in the morning to collect vaccines stored in the health center’s refrigerator. The vaccination team led by Rakoto Hasimbola, a community worker, and once all preparations are complete, they set off for a 30-minute walk under the scorching sun to vaccinate the children in the village of Andranondaka.
“We are used to carrying out this kind of mission by going door-to-door. Even though the conditions are sometimes difficult, we redouble our efforts for the well-being of these children and to eradicate polio,” says Galy Donné, the team’s mobilizer. Each team consists of a vaccinator, a mobilizer, and a registrar responsible for keeping the records. They will travel through several villages during the four days of this first round of supplementary vaccination activities against polio, supported by UNICEF and its partners.
“Fortunately, in our locality, refusals are rare because the villagers know us. But we don’t just have to strengthen vaccination but also adopt good sanitation and hygiene practices if we want to stop the transmission of such diseases,” explains Razafimanantsoa Mamy, the head of the health center who supervises this team during the campaign.
Together and Determined
According to the Ministry of Public Health, in 2023 four rounds of the polio vaccination campaigns reached more than five million children aged 0-59 months, achieving a coverage of 99.8%. During the last round of the same year, over 13 million children under 15 received the polio vaccine. These results have had a significant impact on managing transmission, as no cases of polio have been detected in the country for the past six months. The two rounds planned for 2024 aim to strengthen these achievements.
Rakoto Hasimbola’s team vaccinated 150 children, a third of their overall target, after a long and exhausting day. At sunset, they return to the health clinic to report the data before heading back to Andranondaka where they live. “We’re happy with our work and we’ll continue vaccinating in the communities as well as in schools over the next few days,” he concludes.
Note: In Madagascar, the vaccination of children is supported by partner-donors, including Gavi, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the Embassy of France, Rotary International, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
