Mozambique and Zimbabwe: Fighting polio across the borders
In Burma Valley, a border village in the Mutare district of Manicaland province bordering Mozambique; vaccination teams are on the ground during round 2 of the nationwide polio drive.
Burma Valley, Zimbabwe, 20 March 2024 _ Burma Valley isa border village in the Mutare district of Manicaland province bordering Mozambique; vaccination teams are on the ground during round 2 of the nationwide polio drive. The campaign runs from March 19 to March 22, 2024.
Dangirwa Lizzie, Ellen Mudabura, and Constance Chingore—a vaccinator, a recorder, and a Village Health Worker, respectively—are working as a team to ensure no child is left behind in the polio vaccine drive.
This team is part of over 10,000 vaccination teams trained and deployed to eradicate polio from Zimbabwe. Their work also benefits border settlements in neighbouring areas through vaccination services for the transit population.
In Burma Valley and the surrounding settlements, houses are scattered, and the areas are known for their spectacular scenery and terrain, putting some challenges to the team reaching the hard-to-reach places. However, the teams on the ground leave no stone unturned in their assessment of households, checking for eligible children for the nOPV2 vaccine, a vaccine approved by the WHO to stop the transmission and circulation of Vaccine Derived Polio Virus type 2 (cVDPV2).
Communities in those border villages are at high risk, and the terrain makes regular access to nearby health services difficult. For an area like this one and sub-optimally those districts that performed sub-optimally for the previous round of campaigns, the national EOC introduced A High-Risk Operational Plan (HROP) to identify significant impediments to locally appropriate and doable action. ‘Local problem, local solution’
Sketch maps and movement plans
Over 5,400 people live in Burma village, including 1,515 children under 10. Robust sketch maps and movement plans guide the team’s long walk. These are the area's blueprints with precise itineraries, such as a list of settlements with the number of target children, boundaries and significant landmarks, and designated start and end points for each campaign day.
Dangirwa Lizzie and her team knock on doors in every house to check the presence of eligible children.
Giving two drops of the polio vaccine in the child’s mouth is not the team's end task. They also interact with the caregivers and family members to deliver integrated key messages to enhance routine immunisation.
They encourage regular hand-washing practices with soap and water and the active search for Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) cases.
Further, the team checks the immunisation cards and motivates caregivers to continue routine health care services in the nearby facilities regardless of their previous immunisation status.
Intensified Social mobilisation
The social mobilisation and community engagement observed in the district mirror the intensified similar but area context activities throughout Zimbabwe for the outbreak response.
Some activities include stakeholders’ meetings, house-to-house visits, health facility-based awareness creation, sensitisation of school-based coordinators, and roadshows.
Various channels were used as information sources to reach target populations for demand generation and engagement.
The primary sources of information include posters, banners, factsheets, health workers, radio, TV, Village Health Workers (VHWs), religious leaders, social media, and a mobile VAN. Efforts were exerted to ensure that border communities were also reached with the above communication strategies and activities to reinforce the messaging efforts.
Coordination and Collaboration
Monitors from the health facility, district, province, and national levels are determined to provide all the necessary support to all teams, including border collaboration and coordination during the campaign.
As of March 15, 2024, Zimbabwe has reported 22 cVDPV2 cases from Environmental Sites (17 in 2023 and 5 in 2024) and one AFP case from the Sanyati district, Mashonaland West Province.
The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), comprising the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is actively supporting Zimbabwe's Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) through the Emergency Operation Center (EOC). Together, they are conducting a nationwide polio vaccination campaign to reach over 4.6 million children under 10. With the resounding message "Polio Has No Cure," Zimbabwe completed the R1 campaign in February 2024, achieving a national coverage rate of 108%, surpassing the set target
