Yemen’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) uses routine and specialized vaccination campaigns to protect children under one year of age from life-threatening diseases, including diphtheria, cholera and polio. More than 82% of targeted children under 1 year old were reached with various EPI vaccines in 2019. In total over 50 million doses of different vaccine, including oral cholera vaccine administered in 2019 through the EPI, with an average coverage of 80%, during the different campaigns conducted. Supplementary immunization activities are being implemented to mitigate a host of complexities brought on by the ongoing conflict, such as malnutrition, health care access challenges, population movement and changes in the transmission patterns of vaccine-preventable diseases. 

With the support of local health authorities, WHO continues to remain vigilant through the disease detection and alert activities carried out by rapid response health teams. These mobile teams work to detect, assess, alert and respond to potential public health threats by investigating the situation and quickly supplying the appropriate public health response to reduce the risk of an outbreak.

Outreach activities update

During December 2019, an integrated outreach round that was the fourth for the year, was conducted in the selected districts/ governorates to vaccinate the target children in the remote areas. A minimum package of “routine essential health and nutrition services provided to the target children and family planning/reproductive health services to women of childbearing age.

The services provided include:

• vaccinations: against 11 childhood vaccine preventable diseases
• Integrated Management of Child Illnesses; treatment of pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria
• reproductive health; ante/postnatal care and family planning
• nutrition; screening for malnutrition, deworming, micronutrient supplementation
• referral services in case required.

Related links

Update on the Expanded Programme on Immunization, September 2019