Vaccination saves lives.

Felana is a 28-year-old mother living in Tsararano Ambany, a neighborhood in the city of Majunga in Madagascar. She is a mother of three boys, but unfortunately the first two, who are 12 and 10 years old, were not vaccinated in time and became seriously ill. However, thanks to awareness-raising by health workers and community workers in her neighborhood, Felana decided to have her third child, two-month-old Maivan, vaccinated for the first time.

Lucie, the community agent in charge of vaccination awareness in the neighborhood, testified that it was difficult to convince Felana's family to have their children vaccinated. "It took patience and perseverance to convince them, but it's gratifying to see that our efforts have paid off," Lucie said. With her colleagues and vaccinator Justine, she had to make several house calls to explain to the family the importance of vaccination and alleviate their fears. In the end, after extensive discussions and education on the benefits of vaccination, Felana and her family agreed to have their children vaccinated, helping to achieve the goal of vaccinating every child in their community with zero doses.

After having her child vaccinated, Felana felt relieved and expressed her hope that her child would remain healthy. "I'm relieved and grateful for these health and community agents who have done an amazing job in educating us about the importance of vaccination. I hope my child will always remain healthy now that he has been vaccinated", she commented.

Felana's story is unfortunately all too common in Madagascar, where 303,780 zero-dose children currently live, representing 35% of children aged 0-11 months. Madagascar is one of the 20 countries in the world with 78% zero-dose children, and one of the 10 African countries with the highest number. According to WHO and UNICEF, the situation is alarming and needs to be remedied quickly.

To achieve this, UNICEF and GAVI are supporting the Ministry of Public Health in Madagascar to implement an urban vaccination approach to reach every community in 8 big cities, including Antananarivo, Tamatave, Majunga, Tuléar, Diégo-Suarez, Fianarantsoa, Antsirabe and Ambositra. The goal is to reach at least 70% of zero-dose children from 2019-2022, i.e. around 900,000 children, by 2025. To achieve this, a number of milestones need to be met.

First, at the fokontany level, community agents identify zero-dose children to be vaccinated through integrated services offered at health centers or by advanced vaccination strategy teams.

Second, we need to ensure that the supply chain and cold chain are of high quality to guarantee that vaccines remain effective.

Finally, it's important to stimulate demand and community involvement to promote immunization and maternal and child health. All these steps are currently being implemented in order to reduce the number of unvaccinated children by 50% each year from 2023 to 2025.

Felana's story is a clear example of the importance of vaccination in protecting children from potentially fatal diseases. Through ongoing awareness-raising and vaccination efforts, we can help save lives and provide a healthier future for Madagascar's next generation