German Help Three flies for vaccination campaign ...

15.12.2011

... against polio. After relief organisations, together with the Kenyan Health Ministry, introduced a major vaccination campaign in northern Kenya, it has now been extended to the Wajir south region around the Dadaab refugee camp. To support the vaccination team, the Heli Aviation helicopter was transferred from the capital city of Nairobi to Wajir.

Relief organisations in north eastern Kenya, requested German Help Three for support in the fight against polio. So the Heli Aviation team has set up its operations base directly in Wajir for the next few days. It is planned for help to be available even faster from the air for the work of the vaccination team, comprising helpers and government workers.

Despite a brief respite in rainfall, the country roads in this region cannot be passed safely. The vehicles of the relief organisations carrying the vaccines keep getting stuck on the way to their destinations, sometimes with serious consequences for helpers and those in need. The vehicle crews are then forced to spend the night in the savannah and this presents an incalculable security risk for the team. For particularly during the rainy season, criminal bands take advantage of the very poor road conditions for their raids. In addition, the unnecessary transport delays also mean that the vaccines are sometimes exposed to the heat for longer than permitted, and are therefore ineffective.

Even in Wajir itself, the main street is still difficult to pass in many places and the German Help Three crew reports that the sand tracks between Garissa and Wajir are also flooded. Meteorologists have again predicted strong rainfall for the Wajir region in the next few days, so there is no time to lose.

In the view of the relief organisations, it is very important to make the most of the remaining dry time and carry out the polio vaccinations within a few days. But this is impossible by land and, because of the great distances between the remote villages, the Heli Aviation helicopter is critical for this project.

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