Joint human and animal vaccination programs (JHAVPs) are interventions that have been known to improve health care access and outcomes among livestock and pastoral communities, like those in Kapoeta County of SouthSudan. These individuals live in hard-to-reach areas, making it difficult to access routine health services, such as immunization and other primary health care services.
The CORE Group Partner’s Project (CGPP) often implements Global Health Security (GHS) activities, such as JHAVPs, to reduce the spread of zoonotic disease across countries like South Sudan. GHS is similar to the OneHealth approach, which works to coordinate interventions related to human, animal, and environmental health.
Take a look at CGPP’s results from their most recent JHAVP in the cattle camps of Kapoeta. A total of 3,627 people and 62,154 livestock were vaccinated and treated against various communicable diseases.
Akujo Mary, a 39-nine-year-old mother of three and a widow, began experiencing adversity, including prejudice and discrimination, when she developed weakness in her legs at just eight months old. Shortly before her first birthday, doctors confirmed that she had contracted polio disease. “My mom said I was disabled, useless, and only a burden,” Akujo laments.
Polio, a highly infectious viral disease, predominantly affects children under five and can cause paralysis. While the disease is preventable through vaccination, limited healthcare access and her parents’ lack of awareness on vaccines left Akujo vulnerable.
Despite her diagnosis, Akujo went on to build a life for herself, marrying and raising children. She provides her kids with full immunizations and has witnessed mothers in her community of SouthSudan evolve to do the same.
She attributes this progress to efforts by the CORE Group Partners Project (CGPP), which strengthens immunization systems in her region and conducts community-based surveillance for polio and acute flaccid paralysis. Akujo feels that during her parents’ time, caregivers lacked information and were not enlightened about vaccine-preventable diseases like polio, measles, and yellow fever. CGPP combats this problem by offering community-led outreach activities, such as mother-to-mother group sessions that provide mothers with health education and links to existing health care resources.
Akujo is now a staunch advocate for people with disabilities like her. She stresses the importance of vaccines in protecting children from preventable diseases
“Children with disabilities should be taken care of. They could be the future leaders of this country in the future. Only God knows their fate,” she says. She also calls on the government and other organizations to provide wheelchairs to people with mobility problems like herself and support their education, “for them to realize their dreams.