Page 32 - WHO

Dr Naeema Al Gasseer WR Sudan inagurated the start of SIAs through joint press release with

FMOH and UNICEF. She men�oned;

The (SNIDs) aimed to administer the oral polio vaccine (OPV) to 4.5 million children under five
years of age covering 104 locali�es in 17 out of Sudan’s 18 states.

“Keeping Sudan polio-free has been a major strategic priority for WHO, the Government, and
health partners,” said Dr. Naeema Al Gasseer, WHO Representa�ve in Sudan. “Our biggest chal-
lenge now, in addi�on to sustaining sensi�vity of the surveillance system, is the sub-op�mal
immunity among children moving across the borders, par�cularly given the outbreaks in the
Horn of Africa. So far, with the commi�ed leadership of the Government, support from donors
and strong collabora�on among partners, we have been able to consistently reach over 90

percent of targeted children annually since 2009,”

Training

The training and refresher courses of volunteers and team leaders were the one of the main
elements of success of the immuniza�on campaign. Before November 2017 round, the states
conducted the training of trainers (ToT) at the state level and then the training of volunteers

and team leaders followed at locality level.

The TOT is usually conducted with the direct support from the WHO officers and state EPI opera-
�on officers in order to ensure be�er quality. These courses helped the volunteers to update
their knowledge about the SIAs opera�on and addi�onal preven�ve interven�ons.

These courses also gave opportunity to the volunteers to understand their shortcomings during
November NIDs and provide problem-oriented training to the vaccina�on teams so that the

quality of the campaign is improved.

Border areas between locali�es and other states, administra�ve units and sectors were clearly
iden�fied in the micro plans and maps, and had been addressed in the training in order not to
leave a missed in between area or houses.