UNICEF and Government of Canada Build Child Immunization Registration System in Earthquake Zone

LEIGU TOWN, BEICHUAN COUNTY, 2 April 2009 – Seventeen-month-old Mu Youran was born in Leigu Township Hospital. That hospital was among the thousands of buildings in Beichuan County that collapsed in last year's Sichuan earthquake.

Now living with his parents in a resettlement camp, he has been receiving medical check-ups and vaccinations in a temporary health facility. While the health facility consists of just three pre-fabricated units, it offers a range of basic services, including immunization.

In the last few months, paediatrician Dr. Jiang Hong has vaccinated him against measles, Hepatitis B, diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus, meningitis, and encephalitis.

"With the new computerized registration system, I can easily see which vaccinations Mo Youran has received and plan for upcoming vaccinations," Dr. Jiang Hong said.

Before the earthquake, Dr. Jiang and his colleagues only had hardcopy records of the vaccination history of children in Leigu Town.

"In emergencies, newborns and children are often relocated to camps or temporary shelters. As parents struggle to remake their lives and families move to different settlement camps, it becomes difficult for local health authorities to monitor children's vaccination history and ensure full immunization coverage against preventable diseases," Dr. Guo Sufang, UNICEF China Maternal and Child Health Specialist said.

UNICEF, with funds from the Canada International Development Agency (CIDA), has provided health workers throughout the quake zone with computers and helped to set up a child immunization registration system.

"The immunization registration system is very helpful and allows for more efficient and systematic data collection. I wasn't that familiar with the system at first, but UNICEF provided training," said Dr. Jiang. Now, every time that he vaccinates a child, Dr. Jiang enters the date and type of the vaccine into the registration system.

In total, UNICEF's registration system will register an estimated one million newborns and infants in the earthquake zone, including 20 counties in Sichuan, 8 counties in Gansu, and 8 counties in Shaanxi.

A permanent health facility is expected to be built in Leigu Town by the end of this year. When the new hospital is built, the temporary facility will be disbanded, but Dr. Jiang and authorities at the Centre for Disease Control will continue to rely on the UNICEF-provided immunization registration system to track and monitor vaccination campaigns in the years to come.