Cross-border Vaccinations in the Horn of Africa

Since 1999, the CGPP has coordinated organisations through a few in-country staff members and global project staff to stop polio's transmission. This collaborative approach is known as the Secretariat Model, and it brings together: civil society partners, such as private voluntary, non-governmental, and faith-based organisations; in-country and global government representatives; and other national and international participants, such as United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rotary International, and Ministries of Health. As the CGPP is independent of an organisation, partners join to discuss what the needs are to address polio in communities, identify what should be done to address these needs, come up with related strategies, and then implement these strategies. This method harmonises actions and helps create processes and structures that all organisations can follow in areas where they work, as opposed to agencies implementing different, inconsistent approaches.

What CORE Group brings to this work is a community component. A cross-border health committee was formed and meets regularly. Comprehensive mapping and profiling of cross-border villages, border crossing points, and transit routes help collaborating border health administrations identify interventions to support populations, working with border counterparts as needed to support cross-border communication for sharing information on vaccinations and surveillance. To facilitate cross-border activities, border security authorities, immigration authorities, and local leaders are included in the process and related committees. In South Sudan, the CGPP has set up fixed, cross-border vaccination points along the Kenya and Uganda borders to interrupt polio transmission coming into the country. In addition to polio, the project partners also focus on other childhood diseases, such as measles, tetanus, and diphtheria, including through routine immunisation. In Kenya, the project is working with border health facilities and community volunteers to take care of populations at and crossing the borders for supplementary polio vaccinations, acute flaccid paralysis surveillance, and routine immunisation. The project is also implementing community-based surveillance to complement conventional facility-based surveillance. Volunteers are also using mobile phones for reporting their work, conducting surveys, communicating health messages, and managing cases.

Cross-border committees have been established: in the Turkana county of Kenya between Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda; in Moyale in Kenya between Kenya and Ethiopia; and in Garissa between Kenya and Somalia. A monitoring and evaluation plan for indicators and a joint, cross-border work plan is used to monitor the initiative's progress. The border health administration has ensured the placement of vaccination teams at border crossing points, providing vaccinations in cross-border villages and communication between the villages. Other players engaged in cross-border health issues are reportedly interested in collaborating with the CGPP. In addition to the cross-border monitoring activities, the CGPP has implemented independent campaign monitoring in several countries. In South Sudan, the project conducted a post-campaign evaluation that monitored the quality of polio supplementary immunisation.

Immunisation and Vaccines

Africa reported no wild poliovirus cases for one year as of August 2015, with the last case being detected in Somalia in August 2014. To keep the virus from recurring and eventually eradicate it from the world, conducting routine vaccinations and polio campaigns are crucial, both in countries with and without current reported cases.