FREETOWN, 5 June 2015 – The year-long Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone has had a negative impact on basic health services, especially maternal and child health, with opportunistic childhood diseases such as measles and polio continuing to challenge an already overstretched system.
So, while continuing to support the push to zero new Ebola cases, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, in collaboration with UNICEF, WHO and other development partners, continues to work to restore basic health services – one of the Government’s priorities in the early recovery from the health emergency.

A major step forward starts today with the commencement of a six-day (5-10 June) nationwide mass measles and polio vaccination campaign for children under five years in all the districts in the country which should benefit more than 1.3 million children.

“While we laud the efforts of all the key stakeholders in this campaign and the fight against Ebola, we must not relent so as to lose focus on tackling other childhood diseases that are taking a toll on our children before they reach their fifth birthday,” said Dr Abubakarr Fofanah, Minister of Health and Sanitation. 

Many children missed out on routine vaccination services due to the Ebola outbreak. Since 2014, measles outbreaks, mostly among under five children, have been reported in the country.

With this campaign we can reduce the risk of measles and polio. In addition, high routine immunization coverage is critical in boosting immunity in children against diseases such as measles and polio.

“Vaccines are safe ways to boost protection against preventable diseases. Mass vaccination campaigns are special opportunities to reach out to targeted populations, particularly the under privileged and underserved communities, with essential lifesaving interventions. It is therefore critical for communities especially their leadership to ensure that all children in their communities are vaccinated against debilitating diseases. Let us work together to protect our children from Measles and let us safeguard them against Polio by being an active partner in this campaign,” said Dr Anders Nordström, WHO Representative.

During the campaign, some vaccination teams will remain at the health centres, while others will man temporary outreach sites in more remote communities. Mobile teams will serve in remote and hard-to-reach communities. In order to avoid overcrowding during the ongoing Ebola outbreak, an expanded number of temporary vaccination sites have been established.

In addition to the measles and polio vaccinations, the campaign presents an opportunity for health workers to identify and refer pregnant women to antenatal clinics, and children under 12 months that  have completed three doses of DPT (Diphtheria, Pertussis, and Tetanus: pentavalent-3) will be given a voucher to claim a bed net (LLIN) from Peripheral Health Units (PHUs). Children who are less than 23 months old and that have defaulted in one or more routine vaccinations will also be identified and vaccinated on site.

“This vaccination campaign is of strategic importance to the overall efforts aimed at the drastic reduction of under-five mortality rates in the country, even in the midst of Ebola,” said Geoff Wiffin, UNICEF Representative to Sierra Leone.

The planned campaign aims to reach 95 percent coverage of children with both measles and polio vaccines. The last measles campaign was conducted in 2012 reaching 91 percent of children under five, the highest ever recorded in Sierra Leone. The last polio campaign was conducted in 2013.

The campaign is made possible by funding and support from DFID, GAVI, OFDA and Rotary.

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For more information please contact:

Jonathan Abass Kamara, Public Relations Officer, Ministry of Health and Sanitation, jonathan.kamara42 [at] yahoo.com , Tel: + (232) 76 678 021

Saffea Gborie, WHO, nyka.alexander [at] gmail.com , Tel + (232) 78 335 660

John James, UNICEF, jjames [at] unicef.org , Tel + (232) 76 102 401

Issa Davies, UNICEF, idavies [at] unicef.org , Tel: + (232) 76 601 310