I. Highlights
At the invitation of the President of
the Republic of Niger, the World Health Organization Office for Africa
Regional Director, Dr Luis Gomes Sambo, will visit Niger from 23 to 25
November 2005. The purpose of this visit is to strengthen cooperation between
the Niger Government and WHO. The WHO Regional Director will meet with
the President of the Republic of Niger, the President of the National Assembly
and the Prime Minister. Consultations are planned with the Ministry for
the Public Health and Endemic Diseases, the Ministry of Higher Education
and Technology, United Nations' agencies and development partners. Dr Luis
Gomes Sambo will also visit various health and research clinics throughout
Niamey.
A UNICEF-WFP-WHP joint two week programming mission to evaluate the past year's nutrition strategies and define joint strategies for the coming year in order to ensure the comprehensive treatment of malnutrition began on 21 November 2005.
The fourth round of the national immunization campaign took place 12 to 17 November 2005. Final results including monitoring and supervision with quality indicators are expected on 23 November 2005. Prior to the beginning go the national vaccination campaign round four, a situation analysis of routine vaccination coverage and coverage of previous national vaccination campaigns for the islands of Lake Chad in the Diffa region was undertaken in order to improve overall coverage in the region. Of the 222 islands, 52 (27%) have never been visited during previous national vaccination campaigns and only 28 (13%) of the islands have access to the routine Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI). The micro-plan was updated to include adequate transport, supply and supervision of the teams in order to reach these islands during the fourth round.
Preliminary results from the Integrated Health Centre (CSI) of the district of Bosso that includes 56 islands, show that 19 (34%) had never been visited by the national vaccination campaigns and only 3 (5%) by the routine Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI). These results are promising and demonstrate a significant increase in the number of children vaccinated for the first time in this high-risk zone.
The preliminary results of the Action Against Hunger, nutritional survey conducted between 12 September to 15 October 2005 in the regions of Maradi and Tahoua communicated to WHO reveal:
- In the agricultural zone, from a sample
of 1061 children, there was a total rate of 19,2 % of malnutrition detected,
of which 4,1 % were suffering from severe malnutrition.
- In the agro-pastoral zone, in the period
before harvest when food stock are low, from a sample of 1040 children,
there was a total of 24,7 % malnutrition detected, of which 5,4 % were
suffering from severe malnutrition.
- In pastoral zone, after the harvest, from a sample of 746 children, there was a total of 16,4% malnutrition detected, of which 2,8 % were suffering from severe malnutrition.
The coordinator of the WHO Crisis Operations, the visiting WHO public health expert, the WHO medical nutritionist and the WHO Niger country office economist travelled to the region of Tillaberi on the 17 November 2005. The objectives of the mission were to investigate alternate mechanisms of health service financing and to monitor progress of the collection of nutritional data throughout the region.
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