Rapid Monitoring in Vaccination Campaigns during Emergencies: The post-Earthquake Campaign in Haiti

On 3 May, a vaccinator gives a child a dose of vitamin A, to help boost immunity, at the health centre in the village of Savane Cabrit in West Department. The vaccinator is part of an immunization team that has come from the nearby town of Ganthier. More than 140 teams are vaccinating children against polio, measles/rubella, and diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) as part of a new round of immunizations targeting an estimated 60,000 children under age five in earthquake-affected areas and host communities. De-worming tablets, vitamin A and other nutritional supplements are also being distributed. This latest round supplements immunizations aimed at up to 500,000 vulnerable children that began in February. The campaign is led by the Ministry of Health and supported by UNICEF and the World Health Organization/Pan American Health Organization (WHO/PAHO). UNICEF is providing vaccines, syringes and other related essential supplies and is supporting efforts to re-establish routine immunization, as well as primary health services, in quake-affected areas. By early May 2010 in Haiti, emergency responses had shifted to long-term recovery efforts in response to the 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit the country on 12 January. The quake’s epicentre was only 17 kilometres from Port-au-Prince, the capital, more than 222,500 people were killed and 1.3 million, of whom 450,000 were children, became homeless. In Port-au-Prince, more than 619,000 people continue to live in makeshift settlements, despite an exodus of over 604,000 from the devastated city. The towns of Léogâne and Jacmel were also heavily damaged; and social infrastructures in rural communities, which now host some of the displaced, are over-strained. In the capital, major government and private infrastructure have been destroyed or heavily damaged, including hospitals, water, sanitation and electrical systems, and telecommunications, banks and transportation networks. UNICEF is working with the Government,