the initiative against measles reached all Malian villages

Article re-printed and translated with permission
La Croix (Paris, France)
Catherine Rebuffel
December 19, 2007

The fight against measles, poliomyelitis and malaria moves forward in Mali thanks to combined efforts of the government, and public and private partnerships.

Fourteen partners, public and private, associated themselves for an exceptional vaccination campaign in all villages in Mali. From the 10th of December until today, this Initiative has led to the vaccination against measles and polio of 2.8 million children aged under five, as well as the distribution of doses of vermifuge and vitamin A, while 133,000 insecticide treated mosquito nets were distributed to their mothers.

In this country of 12 million inhabitants, two-and-one-half times the size of France, there are only 3,000 km of paved roads, out of a total 18,000 km of mapped out roads. Needless to say, journeys and transportation are complicated, but these difficulties can be overcome. And the stakes are worth it: the children mortality rate in Mali stands at more than 100 per 1,000 births.

To reach the 15,000 concerned villages, the partners did not go in for penny-pinching. The nets, made in Vietnam, came by boat to the harbor in Dakar, after a 55-day long trip. Then they were loaded on the Dakar-Bamako train and conveyed to the 40 health districts throughout the six administrative regions of the country, in a 600 km range around Bamako. Then they were again distributed to the 975 healthcare centers to finally reach the 3,000 distribution points, established in a range of five to 20 km around the healthcare centers. And for the mother who could not come to these points, mobile teams went to them. Beasts of burden and bicycles were of course very useful.

"The 15,000 villages were covered" ensures Dr Steven Phillips, who manages the project for ExxonMobil, one of the main private partners of this operation. For him, the biggest surprise came from the role of the villages' "griot" or town criers. For the mothers to be present on the vaccination and net distribution day, they passed on the information in each village, while, from 4 a.m. on, midwives were knocking on doors. At 7 a.m., 2 hours before the opening of the healthcare centers, a long queue had already formed in front of each centre.

"Political will also plays an essential role in the success of the operation", specifies Steven Phillips. He said he was "quite impressed" by the impact of the speech of the Malian president, Amadou Toumani Touré, broadcast by all the radios to invite all mothers to go to vaccinations. Out of the 10 million euros spent for this operation, the Malian government
contributed 20%.