Africa is wild polio-free, but polio vaccines are still needed. Last week health officials in the Democractic Republic of the Congo (DRC) launched a polio campaign to prevent future outbreaks.
Back in May, UNICEF predicted that DRCs Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) would be at risk because health workers did not have personal protective equipment “to protect themselves, caregivers and children from the coronavirus.”
The good news is that when Community Health Workers (CHWs) were dispatched to administer polio vaccines door-to-door they did have PPE thanks to the COVID-19 Action Fund for Africa (CAF-Africa). DRC was able to equip its CHWs safeguarding children in communities at risk for polio after the Ministry of Public Health received a donation of 4.5 million pieces of PPE (weighing over 100,000 kg), including masks, face shields, gloves, KN95 masks, and gowns from CAF-Africa.
“With over 10,000 COVID-19 cases in DRC, these supplies will help CHWs respond to the pandemic, as well as continue to increase vaccination rates in children. When CHWs have the PPE needed to do their jobs, everyone benefits safely. It is through collective action that we can stop the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and create a world where each person has the health care needed to thrive,” said Freddy Nkosi, VillageReach, Country Director, DRC. VillageReach, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, provided the needs assessment and in-country expertise that facilitated the PPE donation.
CAF-Africa is a continent-wide collaborative effort to quantify and address the unmet need for CHWs to have PPE across as many as 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Over 30 in-country and global partners are involved in the effort. CAF-Africa is organized by Community Health Acceleration Partnership, the organizations of the Community Health Impact Coalition (including Integrate Health, Last Mile Health, Living Goods, Lwala Community Alliance, Muso, Partners in Health, and VillageReach), Direct Relief, the Pandemic Action Network, and Ministries of Health in 20 countries.