5 million children vaccinated in Sudan 

9 August, El Genina, Sudan - Sudan recently held mass polio vaccination campaigns in a bid to protect its children from poliovirus after two cases were reported in neighbouring Chad. Over 5 million children were vaccinated over three days, while Chad vaccinated 2.5 million of its children. Chad had previously stopped polio, but has reported two cases to date this year. Sudan has not reported a case of polio since 2005. Travel between the two countries is considerable, raising the risk of poliovirus spread.

More synchronized campaigns are planned in Sudan and Chad, as the region prepares for the upcoming pilgrimage season and resultant increased traffic along the Nigeria-Chad-Sudan corridor. At the same time, Saudi Arabia is updating its polio vaccination requirements in the Kingdom's annual health advisory in preparation for the Hajj. Pilgrims from polio-infected countries will be advised to be fully vaccinated before travel to Mecca. Saudi Arabia implemented similar measures last year, successfully preventing any international spread of polio through the Hajj.

The following photos illustrate the vaccination campaign in El Genina, in the West Darfur region of Sudan, where insecurity, flooding and the displacement of people pose a singular challenge to vaccinators. All photos by Liliane Boualam, WHO.

Oral polio vaccine, which has to be kept chilled, is stored in a health facility in El Genina 
in West Darfur. The rainy season has flooded the area, but the refrigerators are intact.

A child is given oral polio vaccine at Torti camp for internally displaced people in El 
Genina, Sudan. Frequent travel between Chad and Sudan makes it easy for the poliovirus 
to travel; the large numbers of children displaced in the Darfur region are particularly 
vulnerable to disease. The virus detected in Chad is of Nigerian origin.

Dr Salah Haithami of WHO checks that a young vaccinator knows her tasks -- 
delivering two drops of vaccine to every child, marking their fingers with indelible ink for 
tracking purposes, storing the vaccine safely in her cooler box. 

Dr Tayeb EL Saied, in charge of Sudan's immunization programme, demonstrates a 
house-marking. These marks tell vaccination teams and monitors whether a house has 
been visited and whether the children under five years of age have been vaccinated.

A team of vaccinators waits to be driven out to a remote community. More than 90% of 
vaccinators are women, who alone have access to private households. Sudan has remained polio-free since 2005, carrying out vaccination campaigns and surveillance for the disease in extremely difficult circumstances, particularly in the Darfur region.