Eliminating Polio in Haiti
2016
This case study describes Haiti’s school- and community-based polio vaccination campaigns targeting children to eradicate poliovirus. In 2000, Haiti experienced an outbreak of a vaccine-derived strain of the poliovirus. This case describes the Haitian government’s efforts, in coordination with international health organizations, to investigate and control the outbreak, and its subsequent launch of two national immunization campaigns in 2001: school-based vaccination of all children under 10, followed by house-to-house vaccination of all remaining eligible children. This approach achieved 93 percent coverage and stopped the outbreak in its tracks.
This case study is part of Millions Saved: New Cases of Proven Success in Global Health, a collection of case studies produced by the Center for Global Development that profiles 18 remarkable cases in which large-scale efforts to improve health in low- and middle-income countries succeeded, and 4 examples of promising interventions that fell short of their health targets when scaled-up in real world conditions. The cases featured on the website are shortened versions of the respective book chapters in the print edition.
Source:
Glassman A, Temin M. Eliminating Polio in Haiti. Millions Saved: New Cases of Proven Success in Global Health. Center for Global Development 2016. http://millionssaved.cgdev.org/case-studies/eliminating-polio-in-haiti.