A common package for children’s health

DRC prepares for mass polio vaccination campaign, de-worming, administration of Vitamin A and registering births

Polio vaccination in North Kivu at a camp for the internally displaced WHO/Eugène Kabambi

KINSHASA – More than a year after a child was last paralyzed by wild poliovirus in the country, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is preparing for a nation-wide polio immunization campaign on 11-13 July. Aiming to reach 16 million children under the age of five years, the campaign is essential to keep DRC polio-free. The campaign involves 19,000 social mobilizers to inform and involve communities, 90,000 vaccinators and more than 50,000 health workers giving de-worming tablets and Vitamin A supplements. For the first time in DRC, large-scale birth registration will be carried out, targeting 117 ‘zones de santé’ or health zones.

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