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POLIO-FREE CHAD UNICEF QUARTERLY ON THE POLIO ERADICATION INITIATIVE IN CHAD October 2013 A Year Without WPV How to dismantle a hard-hitting enemy Frontline Focus Working with nomads along migration routes & photo essay Keeping cVDPV in-check Intensifying mop-up campaigns 1 © UNICEF NYHQ/2012/Holt A Year Without WPV WITH THE CONTRIBUTION OF Eradicating WPV is an ambitious BRUNO MAES Representative endeavour. In a country where MARCEL S. OUATTARA the public health system is still in Salamat Forum Deputy Representative need of a major push, this result A regional forum in the district GIANLUCA FLAMIGNI Chief, Polio is of significant importance, and of Am-Tinam brought together LALAINA FATRATRA ANDRIAMASINORO gives hope for making a polio- political, administrative, Chief of Communication free world a reality. traditional and religious leaders DJINGRI OUOBA in aims of establishing a network C4D Specialist (Polio) of partnerships between BOUREIMA KONATÉ Page 4 C4D Specialist (Polio) stakeholders, and to design an JUSTIN MASRADAYE action plan to improve health C4D Consultant (Polio) and vaccination performance in BAKOLY RABENARIVO Frontline Focus the region. Regional C4D Specialist (Polio) Reaching previously hard NADIM BOUGHANMI Communication Officer -to-reach communities has Page 22 FACT CHECKING been emphasized this year. THOMAS MORBAN Working closely with different M&E Specialist (Polio) government entities as well as UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF LALAINA FATRATRA ANDRIAMASINORO local and traditional leaders, Keeping cVDPV in-check Chief of Communication such communities can now Globally and in Chad,the cVDPV GIANLUCA FLAMIGNI also benefit from life-saving situation is becoming a source Chief, Polio vaccinations. of concern. Heavy campaigning WRITING / REPORTING combined with missed children NADIM BOUGHANMI Communications Officer Page 8 could have an effect on the LALAINA FATRATRA ANDRIAMASINORO incidence of the derived virus. Chief of Communication High quality campaigns are key. LAYOUT AND DESIGN NADIM BOUGHANMI Communications Officer Missed Children Page 24 PHOTOGRAPHY “Why curing the world from NADIM BOUGHANMI polio is not just a two drop affair” Read Also: Communications Officer examines the issue of missed children in the Chadian context Engaging Communities Through and implications on community Radio Game Shows Page 21 mobilization efforts. Reaching A Crucial Milestone Page 25 Page 19 CONTENTS © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chad Country Office This newsletter has been prepared to provide periodic information updates on the Polio eradication Initiative in Chad.The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this newsletter are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of UNICEF. The text has not been edited to official publication standards and UNICEF accepts no responsibility for errors. EDITORIAL NOTE olio eradica- including UNICEF and to-reach beneficiaries sonal migration routes tion efforts WHO would not have such as nomadic groups across the southern in Chad been able to put in and refugees, to the borders with the Central have yielded place the structures and recent implementation African Republic. excellent implement the strate- of the Reaching Every results over gies that helped enable District (RED) strategy, Communication for the past 15 months. By such a promising result. and the revitalization of Development in the P Chadian context, and the end of 2012, the the country’s immuniza- total number of new In Chad, and despite tion programme, efforts being one of UNICEF’s infections had dropped sizable challenges (dis- were not spared. flagship disciplines, is by more than 95%, and persed populations, dif- also featured in this edi- this year, there have ficult terrain, insufficient Notwithstanding this tion of Polio-Free-Chad, been no new cases of knowledge on good promising result, the alongside a number of WPV to date. family practices, frail cVDPV situation in Chad human interest stories cold chain system and remains a source of and a photo gallery that The engagement of the lack of qualified health concern. Five cases have we hope will give you a Chadian Government, workers just to name a been confirmed this feel for our work on the whose president de- few), real progress was year, prompting a dense ground here. clared an all-out war on made, and the country schedule of localized the virus back in 2009, is now on its way to mop-up campaigns. We hope this newsletter has played a key role becoming polio-free. will serve you well as a in reaching a crucial In this new edition of tool to obtain periodic milestone on June 14th Efforts were intensi- Polio–Free Chad, and information updates of this year, after 12 con- fied across all facets of as we celebrate the and generally as a secutive months with- the Eradication Initia- important eradication channel for improved out a new case of WPV. tive, from the complete milestone that has been interaction between overhaul of the coun- reached in June 2013, partners. Support from partners try’s cold chain system we try to shed the light such as the Bill and to the deployment of on working with tradi- Melinda Gates Founda- more than 45 national tionally hard-to-reach Bruno Maes tion, the Government communication staff communities of nomad- Representative of Japan, USAID, CDC to increase community ic tribes, along their sea- Atlanta and Rotary awareness trough work- International has been ing with community decisive, and without and religious leaders, to which operating agen- special campaigns tar- cies on the ground geting previously hard- © United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Chad Country Office This newsletter has been prepared to provide periodic information updates on the Polio eradication Initiative in Chad.The findings, interpretations and conclusions expressed in this newsletter are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of UNICEF. The text has not been edited to official publication standards and UNICEF accepts no responsibility for errors. A YEAR WITHOUT WPV A YEAR WITHOUT WPV How to dismantle a hard-hitting enemy Eradicating polio has been a top pub- lic health priority in Chad since the re-establishment of Wild Poliovirus (WPV) circulation back in 2009. A little over three years later, and despite siz- able challenges, Chadian government and global partners including UNICEF and WHO have recently achieved a crucial eradication milestone: 12 con- secutive months of interrupted WPV transmission – a fundamental criterion needed to declare a polio-free state. Although Chad is not the only re-es- tablished transmission country in the region to achieve this milestone (An- gola and DR Congo reported their last cases in July and December 2012, re- spectively), progress attained here over the past 15 months is nothing short of outstanding: the 95% drop in new WPV cases in 2012 is not only a tangi- ble result, but it was also obtained in a country still grappling with the after- math of never ending political instabil- ity, coupled with the some of harshest environmental factors on the planet. till ranking in had a catastrophic impact on the bottom four polio eradication efforts, and countries (184/187) so could have the measurable in the world on the influxes of IDPs and refugees UN Human Devel- following recent political opment Index, (in turmoil in neighbouring Scontrast, Angola and Nigeria countries. are ranked 148 and 153, re- spectively), and with a surface Instead, this result is rather spanning 1.284 million km2, reflective of meticulous Chad is not the easiest of bat- strategic planning, rigorous tlefronts. implementation and tight monitoring. Added is the abil- Defective or inexistent ity to quickly and effectively infrastructure, notably in mobilize and operationalize terms of transportation and the eradication apparatus, communication, low levels of which involves many actors education (nearly half of the at international and national population is illiterate), a weak levels, multiple government public health system plagued agencies and partners, and with a serious lack of human the deployment of enormous and financial resources (for human and financial resourc- example, Chad has the lowest es in order to reach the entire number of medical doctors target population. A particular per capita in the world), a vast focus was placed on reaching territory complete with plenty hard-to-reach groups such as of difficult terrain - whether nomadic communities, IDPs it is remoteness or accessibil- and refugees, and on deliver- ity, and a near-constant state ing swift and effective mop- of humanitarian emergency ups when needed. (floods in 2012 displaced more than 70,000 people in The last two cases of WPV in Chad), are all factors that polio Chad were reported from the eradication actors at all levels Lake Chad region back in June must deal with on a daily 2012 and were responded to basis. with a four-round mop-up campaign, which reached Aside form what such an more than 300,000 children in achievement means for the the span of eight weeks. Global Polio Eradication Initia- tive, especially at a time of re- Meanwhile, the endemic in kindled hope at the prospect neighbouring Nigeria was of achieving global eradica- flaring up, and the porous tion - with a new scientifically borders became a source of backed global deadline set for concern, prompting multi- 2018 and many talking about lateral regional coordination the last 0.1% as opposed to activities centred on the the last 1% - a fundamental prevention of cross-border lesson learned here is that transmission. Campaigns when efforts are well planned, were synchronized across coordinated and implement- borders. Recently, a new case ed, eradication of the elusive of WPV has been confirmed in polio virus is possible, even on western Cameroon. toughest of terrains. More recently, and to respond to the five confirmed cVDPV cases notified to date in the If it can be done in Chad regions of Salamat, Batha, Kanem and Ennedi, several Progress in Chad over the Mop-up rounds have been past few months is not the conducted this year, or are result of random environ- currently underway, in order mental factors.