MOGADISHU, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday some 1.42 million children were vaccinated against polio and measles during the first phase of a nationwide integrated polio and measles immunization drive in Somalia.
The WHO which carried out the exercise with Somalia and UNICEF as well as other partners said the Nov. 24-28 drive targeted more than 1.7 million children under the age of five for polio vaccination and more than 1.5 million children aged six to 59 months for measles vaccination and vitamin A supplementation.
However, at the end of it, a total of 751,811 children had received polio vaccine (84% of the target), 671,381 had received the measles vaccine (82% of the target), 481,332 (66% of the target) had received deworming tablets and 666,182 children (82% of the target) had received vitamin A capsules, said WHO.
"This is the first time that an integrated campaign such as this has happened in Somalia. Vaccinators went from door to door to reach every child with life-saving vaccines, leaving no one behind," said the UN health agency.
The UN agencies said the campaign was particularly focused on children in districts with high concentrations of internally displaced persons and nomadic communities due to the need to improve routine immunization coverage among these populations and reach those missed during routine immunization programs.
More than 17,000 skilled community vaccinators, frontline health workers and social mobilizers took part in the campaign.
According to WHO, the remaining unvaccinated children of the 1.7 million targeted for polio vaccination and the more than 1.5 million targeted for the measles vaccine will be reached during the second phase of the campaign in December.
