IRFF Immunization Program in the Ivory Coast

Michael Giampaoli
July 1988

Mr. Kouame Edmond, IRFF supervisor in the Ivory Coast, vaccinates a baby.

The goal of the development projects that the International Relief Friendship Foundation (IRFF) sets up in the developing countries is similar to that of many other aid agencies -- to promote the self- sufficiency and self-determination of the people being aided. Too often the outcome of many relief programs is the people's dependency on future aid and a lack of any incentive to construct local solutions to local problems. When IRFF initiates a project we always walk that delicate balance of promoting self- sufficiency while continuing to provide the necessary aid.

When Ruth Robinson and Frieda Gasser of the IRFF medical staff departed from the Ivory Coast mobile vaccination program in the summer of 1987, we weren't sure that the local volunteers could continue to carry out the program. We were hoping they could, but our training for them had been limited. However, due to the tremendous effort of one Ivorian Unification Church member, Mr. Kouame Kouadio Edmond, who is the IRFF supervisor in the Ivory Coast, the vaccination program continued, and by December of 1987 each of the 658 villages in the region of Bouake had been visited three times by several teams of volunteers.

IRFF volunteers for the national immunization project.

This IRFF project, operated in conjunction with the Ministry of Health, is participating in the Ivory Coast's National Campaign for Immunization. The vaccination program was accomplished according to the standards set up by the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF. Children from two months to four years of age were targeted for immunization against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, measles, and yellow fever. The teams of project volunteers consisted of 70 health agents (registered nurses), three physicians, a pharmacist, four public hygiene assistants, and five IRFF volunteers. Each child received an immunization card, and, despite such problems as impassable roads in wet weather, approximately 95 percent of the 42,000 children of the region were immunized.

The five IRFF volunteers, all Ivorians, succeeded in coordinating this highly valuable medical work. Mr. Edmond has set up goals to continue this vaccination service and has established providing primary health care as the priority of IRFF projects, as well as training more volunteers in anatomy, physiology, nursing, and moral and ethical guidance. This project has become a model aid project of the Ivory Coast, where self- determination and responsibility for health is in the hands of the Ivorians. We are proud of their efforts and success.