Vaccination hero on the frontline
Ibtisam Abdullah Altayeb, a vaccination specialist has championed child vaccinations for over eleven years in Sudan.
While she believes her role is complex, Ibtisam has embraced it and not even the additional challenges posed by the recent influx of displaced children will stop her from reaching children with lifesaving vaccines. She believes it is a calling. Together with other health workers they are innovating to easily reach displaced children and those in host communities through a coordinated weekly approach - home visits.
Displaced mothers and caretakers are unfamiliar with the new environments where they currently reside. The majority are unaware of the health facility locations let alone the services offered. Ibtisam and her colleagues are taking care of this by taking these services to their doorsteps. They are determined to reach every child with vaccines despite the challenging times. And nothing will stop them.
Wednesdays designated for displaced children
On a Wednesday morning, Ibtisam arrives at her workstation. According to the schedule, this day is designated for immunization outreaches targeting displaced children and she will visit Ishgaddi gathering point.
Thousands of children and families have fled their homes to safer locations, including Madani. Several reside in schools, institutions also known as gathering points, while some are hosted by relatives. The locations have been mapped out by the health workers for easy reach of eligible children and Ibtisam and her team have created a schedule indicating who goes where and when.
Through quick preparations of vaccines and other supplies, Ibtisam, is ready to head out to the communities.
“Some families came with health cards containing all the immunization records of their child, which is always helpful. Others came empty handed, and some have never been immunized,” Ibtisam shares.
“We don’t say no to anyone, we work together on an immunization plan. We also conduct visits to home and camps for displaced people. We take our vaccines,” she adds.
“Today I am taking vaccines for measles, meningitis, and yellow fever. There are several new mothers in the camp,” she asserts.
Given the significant increase in the number of arrivals, the health facility occasionally experiences reduced vaccine stocks. But UNICEF and the Federal Ministry of Health are addressing these challenges through maintenance of an uninterrupted supply chain of vaccines in 12 states, including Gezira state where Madani is located.
Using the quickest means of transport to reach the children with vaccines safely tucked into a cooler box that keeps them safe and effective, Ibtisam heads out to the gathering point with several children under five.
In no time, the mothers with their children congregate around her.
For several years, Ibtisam has witnessed vaccine refusals resulting from myths shared by mothers and caregivers. Today her sessions begin with health education sessions to demystify these myths and rumours. She shares detailed information on all vaccines a child needs, when they should take them, and ends with the overall importance of vaccination against killer childhood illnesses.
“We try to educate the mothers, according to their level of understanding - sometimes we use the help of posters for visual illustration,” she elaborates.
Mothers are her primary audiences because she believes they are key decision makers on childhood vaccinations in their households.
“Sometimes fathers oppose immunization. So, we educate the mothers to convince their husbands on the importance of immunizing their children.”
One by one the children in the queue are protected with lifesaving vaccines.
And their vaccination records are updated. No child is turned away, even those without cards are vaccinated. A great opportunity to reach under-vaccinated and unvaccinated children with lifesaving vaccines.
After a long but fruitful day, Ibtisam returns to the health facility. Her passion to protect children from disease pushes her to do the same activity, over and over again, for more than a decade now – driven by the benefits her contribution has on the children of Sudan. She has seen unvaccinated children affected by killer diseases which could have been avoided by a simple act of vaccination. No wonder she will do all it takes including engaging different tactics to reach every child, also during crisis times such as these.
Source: unicef - Sudan
