In partnership with Comic Relief, Amref Health Africa is providing immunization across fifteen districts in the Afar region of Ethiopia, prioritizing the Berhale, Elidear, Dubti and Teru districts where there is a high proportion of children and pregnant women who do not complete vaccinations.

Many of the people who live in Afar’s hard-to-reach districts are women, young children and infants who live too far from a health facility where they can receive routine immunizations. This makes them more susceptible to preventable diseases such as polio and measles. Several of the communities that are in these districts are pastoral, which means they migrate throughout the year with their livestock. This keeps them even farther from health facilities where they can access necessary health services like immunization.

Through this project, we provide immunizations for young children, infants and pregnant women at health facilities in these districts and through mobile immunization teams – teams of health workers, well-stocked with immunizations that meet the pastoral communities on their migration routes. Additionally, the project works to reach community, clan and religious leaders who wield influence in their communities, so that they can promote immunization and other child health services.

In total, an estimated 28,000 children will be reached with immunization across these regions: