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Power slows down measles vaccination
2006-09-23 09:01:58
By Hannah Mwandoloma
Ongoing power rationing and erratic generators, threaten to derail the measles vaccination exercise, which got underway in Dar es Salaam yesterday at all health institutions designated to handle paediatric cases.
Commenting on the logistical problems the exercise had run into, the Kinondoni District Cold Chain Co-ordinator, Asange Lupenza, said the health centre depends on low capacity generator, which lacks the capacity to sustain the increased workload.
The problems, Lupenza said, invariably affect most of the measles vaccination centres.
”Cold storage is important for the efficacy of the vaccine we are using. We need many ice-cubes to save the highly reactive vaccines from potential damage.
However, power problems are compromising our efforts to roll back the pandemic that is rapidly spreading. I’m apprehensive about what will happen tomorrow,” Lupenza said.
He said the centre had informed the Ministry of Health about problems the vaccination exercise faces, but was yet to receive a feed back.
Since the measles outbreak in Dar es Salaam was announced on September 1, approximately 800 cases have been diagnosed, according to statistics obtained yesterday from the centres that have been set up to handle the outbreak.
About Kinondoni Municipality, Lupenza said lack of qualified personnel had reduced the progress at the 481 centres, to a snail’s speed, adding that each centre needed at least three health workers to vaccinate as many people as people.
The Guardian came across many children escorted by their parents who had turned up for vaccination at Buguruni and Magomeni health centres.
Officers deployed at the centres said the number swells in the evening when parents and guardians are done with their day’s work.
Speaking at Buguruni Health Centre, Ilala Municipality, Dr Hawa Lesso, however, lamented that the response was low and attributed it to low awareness about the measles campaign. ”They only realise it has started upon visiting the centre,” Dr Lesso said.
”Until this afternoon, we vaccinated 200 children only, 118 of whom were between six months and five years old, and 53 were children above five years.
The number is relatively low as regards to the densely populated residential areas like Buguruni. We hope word will spread quickly so that many more children can turn up for vaccination.
At Magomeni Health Centre, the Public Health Nurse, Mary Masanga said the centre was busy all day long, adding that by yesterday afternoon, 120 children had been vaccinated.
The campaign, which is expected to end tomorrow, is being carried out at all health centres in Dar es Salaam. A few more centres have been set up in primary schools in Kinondoni, Ilala and Temeke municipalities.
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