World Health Organization (WHO) Ethiopia Office supported the catchup activities as part of the 2024 African Vaccination Week (AVW) implementation with a motto “Attention to zero doze and under vaccinated children”. Nearly an estimated 194,246 zero dose children were identified from the IDPs community in five regions of Ethiopia including Amhara, Tigray, Somali, Oromia and Afar region.

Ethiopia is working to clear backlogs of zero-dose (ZD) and under vaccinated children (UVC) accumulated since 2019 through a big catch-up plan. Although the country is making efforts to reduce the immunity gap, there is still a high number of children who have not received any vaccines or are under-vaccinated in the community.

Dr. Owen Laws Kaluwa, Country Representative to WHO Ethiopia said “I am pleased to reveal that WHO will continue to support Ethiopia to clear the backlogs of ZD and UVC using different opportunities. As part of this commitment, the 2024 AVW has been used as an opportunity recently to support the IDPs vaccination in five regions.”

During the implementation of the 2024 AVW, WHO collaborated with the identified regions and all immunization partners to advocate and mobilize missed communities, identify zero dose and under vaccinated children in the IDPs setting, and vaccinate them with appropriate antigen. To ensure the successful execution of the African Vaccination Week program, the Regional Health Bureaus, EPI Officers, and the respective community leaders and representatives from the internally displaced people (IDP) sites have been engaged.

WHO provided financial support that amounts to USD 49,262 including for the national launching of the African Vaccination Week in Tigray region, the transmission of routine immunization message through the national TV and Radio and for the IDP catch up vaccination campaign during AVW.

Likewise, with the help of a catalytic fund from GAVI, WHO also supported the Ministry of Health and Regional Health Bureaus in 2023 in the recovery of primary health care and to address ZD and UVC in selected woredas of the Amhara region and vaccinated over 4,800 zero-dose children. WHO has also scaled up its catch-up project this year in 10 additional woredas of Amhara region and 20 selected woredas of Tigray region.

The humanitarian report revealed that the impact of conflict in different parts of the country has resulted in over 4.5 million people being displaced and reside in the IDPs that have limited access to health facilities. In some parts of the country, the internally displaced people (IDP) are living with the host community, which increases the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases in the host community.

Conflict has had a significant impact on the delivery of health services, as it has resulted in the destruction of health facilities, inaccessibility due to security concerns, and displacement of health professionals. These challenges have significantly hampered routine immunization programs, leading to an increase in the community immunity gap and outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs). Furthermore, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic has a substantial impact on essential immunization activities including the disruption to mass vaccination campaigns that has increased the risk of outbreak for the VPD. The Ministry of Health Ethiopia developed a catchup guideline and working hard to clear the backlogs in collaboration with the immunization partners. In this regard, WHO maintains its support to the MOH strengthen immunization services to the population of Ethiopia with particular focus to the vulnerable people including IDPs and people with limited access to health services due to various reasons.