USAID Primary Health Care Project in Iraq (PHCPI) Helps Reach Vulnerable Children Under Five through Iraq’s Autumn Vaccination Campaign

The campaign, which will last for 5 days, is being carried out by primary health care clinics and field teams. The Ministry of Health and all Directorates of Health have harnessed their capacities to implement the second round of the campaign. The Ministry of Health announced that the campaign has covered more than 5 million children under five, including 450,000 children in Ninawa province who have already been vaccinated despite the difficult security situation. The campaign is being supported by the USAID/PHCPI, which has contributed to the Ministry of Health's efforts through the development and distribution of IEC materials, an Acute Flaccid Paralysis field manual, and funding for Ministry of Health TV polio awareness spots aired across Iraq. Acute Flaccid Paralysis is the most common sign of polio and is used as a surveillance indicator during polio outbreaks. The PHCPI's manual is used by communicable disease surveillance staff, including 677 of the vaccinators and supervisors who were trained by the project, to assist primary health care workers in diagnosing, managing, and reporting cases of AFP. Additionally, PHCPI is implementing an electronic vaccination record system, which is a paper-free method to collect child and vaccination team data during immunization campaigns, allowing real-time monitoring by the campaign leader and accurate collection of data. The electronic vaccination record system will play a vital and integral role in the Ministry of Health's autumn polio vaccination campaign. This vaccination campaign will be the first to utilize a tablet system that allows real-time data collection and geo-tracking for an efficient and streamlined roll-out of immunizations. The Ministry of Health has called upon everyone to have their children vaccinated as soon as possible, and has assured that adequate dosages of the vaccine have been brought from reliable global suppliers. Eleven thousand static and mobile teams are implementing this campaign across Iraq, supervised by 1,000 vaccinators and supervisors from the Ministry of Health. The USAID Primary Health Care Project in Iraq (PHCPI) is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Contract No. AID-267-C-0-11-00004. The project team includes prime recipient, URC, and sub-recipient organizations Management Sciences International and Sallyport Holdings, Inc.