With UN support, Haiti launches nationwide vaccination campaign

With the backing of the United Nations, the Haitian Government today launched a nationwide vaccination campaign to try to protect more than half of the population from contracting key preventable diseases.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) are all partners in the effort to reach 5.7 million people, or 58 per cent of the total population.

The $9.5 million campaign is being carried out in the framework of a broader drive to tackle measles, German measles, tetanus and polio. Measles and German measles vaccines will be given to people age 1 to 19, while children up to the age of 4 will receive immunization against polio. Women of childbearing age are targeted by the tetanus vaccine.

UN blue helmets serving with MINUSTAH furnished logistical support for the campaign, facilitating the transport of equipment, vaccines and other materials while helping to ensure the cold-chain necessary to maintain the vaccines.

“This country is a perfect example of what can be accomplished when Haitian authorities, different agencies of the UN system, MINUSTAH and the international community work in close collaboration,” said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Haiti, Hédi Annabi.