Kampala, 3rd May 2016 - World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) launched the sixth African Vaccination Week (AVW), to raise awareness on the importance of vaccination in reducing child mortality and renew efforts around universal vaccination coverage. Vaccination can save children’s lives, and keep adults, communities and nations, healthy. One in five African children still lacks access to all the necessary and basic vaccinations.

This year, WHO has teamed up with the Ministry of Health and other partners like United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF), to carry out immunization activities during the African Vaccination Week (AVW) which ran  from the 24th   to  30th April under the theme “Every Shot Counts”. 

AVW 2016 follows the first-ever Ministerial Conference on Immunization in Africa, held earlier this year, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. At the conference, African leaders took bold steps towards universal coverage with commitments outlined in the Declaration on Universal Access to Immunization as a Cornerstone for Health and Development.

The African leaders underscored that in order to achieve universal vaccination, a multi-pronged approach is needed to raise awareness of the life-saving value of immunization, to advocate for universal access, and to generate increased demand for new and existing vaccines. WHO country offices and partners across the continent celebrated AVW 2016 with various country-specific activities including vaccination, provision of a range of life saving health activities, health promotion, community outreach, media engagement and more.

Uganda kick started its AVW activities with the launch of the Inactivated Polio Vaccine at a function held in Bulambuli district on the 18th April 2016 prior to the formal switch from trivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (tOPV), to bivalent oral poliovirus vaccine (bOPV). The function took place on Friday April 29th, 2016, to be implemented in public and private health facilities.

Nationally, risk analyses were done to ascertain how the immunization program is performing and to identify the good and poor performing districts. The Ministry of Health with support from the Ministry of Education, UNICEF and WHO is also planning a national quiz on immunization that will be concluded in May 2016. Information on immunization has been sent out to schools all over the country to equip the students with knowledge prior to the quizzes that will be held at district, regional and national levels. 

Uganda is trying to minimize the risk of getting a Wild Polio Virus case or Vaccine derived polio through the implementation of the Polio End Game strategic plan.

The Ministry of Health together with partners has encouraged districts to categorize sub county performances on a scale of 1 to 4. This will enable districts to prioritize intervention with sub counties in category 4 requiring improvement in access to health services. The purpose is to improve service delivery in all districts. In addition, districts throughout the country have received a top up from GAVI and are implementing integrated outreaches.

The media has also been engaged to disseminate messages and information especially on polio, Hepatitis B Vaccination and the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to protect 10 year old girls from cancer of the cervix. Increased advocacy for mothers to attend Antenatal Care and to deliver from health facilities has also been heightened. Mothers are also being tested for HIV to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV. The climax of the AVW will be held in Mitooma district in May.

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For more information, please contact:

Mwebembezi Edmond, Public Information Officer, Tel: +256 414 335569, Cel: +256 782 962674, Email:mwebembezie [at] who.int