| What is your job at UNICEF? |
Ms. Erica Kochi is in the U.S. media section of UNICEF, and she deals with many health issues. She works with many diseases such as malaria, iodine deficiency, and polio. She also deals with water sanitation and everything dealing with children’s health. She writes documents and speeches in simple language for the outside world. She and UNICEF deal with all preventable diseases.
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| How does the polio vaccine reach countries? |
She told us that a country will in fact put in an order for the vaccines for the following year. However, it takes a lot of work to know how many vaccines are needed each year because UNICEF has to look over all the previous years to predict how many outbreaks there will be in the following year. Most of the countries order vaccines, and then UNICEF adds them all together, and talks to the pharmaceutical companies to order the total number of vaccines. She said that it is better to order vaccines through UNICEF. For example, if a country orders 30 million doses not through UNICEF, it may cost 15 cents per vaccine. However, the global cost for the doses of the vaccines through UNICEF would cost less money because UNICEF orders in a greater quantity.
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| Who goes to countries to distribute these vaccines and how are they distributed? |
Ms. Kochi explained that the vaccines are shipped by air directly from the pharmaceutical companies to the countries that ordered them. This is where the “cold train” begins. The cold train is a system of distributing the vaccines and making sure they arrive at their destination in good condition. These vaccines do not sit in a warehouse because many of the vaccines have an expiration date and must stay at a certain temperature. The vaccines must be used in a matter of days to have full effect. The vaccines usually arrive at the airport of the countries' capitals and are cleared through customs. From the airport, they are sent to each district where they are kept in large refrigerators to insure their quality. From each district, they are distributed throughout the major towns. Volunteers carry the vaccines in “cold boxes,” which are insulated cold packs with straps that make the boxes look like large purses. The volunteers take these vaccines door-to-door or to health posts throughout the
villages and give them to every child under five. She said this is the final and hardest step of the “cold train.” It is the hardest leg because many of the villages have no roads or electricity. Therefore, the volunteers' cold packs must either operate by solar power, bottled gas, or kerosene.
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| How much does a polio vaccine cost? |
Ms. Kochi explained that it varies, but the average cost of each polio vaccine is less than 10 cents. However, included in the total cost of vaccinating children is the price of paying the workers and the execution and maintenance of the cold train. Also, many people believe that the number of vaccines and the resulting cost should decrease in each successive year because many children have already been vaccinated. However, over 100 million children are born each year. This renews the need for vaccines every consecutive year.
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| What other diseases is UNICEF sending vaccines for and which ones are a top priority? |
Ms. Kochi stated that UNICEF believes that all diseases that have vaccines are important, especially the six basic diseases, which are diphtheria, tetanus, yellow fever, whooping cough (pertussis), measles, and polio. Children have to have every one of these disease vaccinations or there is a good possibility that they will contract the disease and possibly die. However, UNICEF does set several goals. Ms. Kochi indicated that it is the hope of UNICEF to completely eradicate polio by the end of 2005. Measles is also a big focus of UNICEF officials. They hope to cut the measles cases in half from the statistics of the year 1999. What's great is that they are almost there, and Africa has exceeded that goal.
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| How many people work at UNICEF in the vaccine program? |
Ms. Kochi related that there are about 25 people working in the vaccination section of UNICEF’s headquarters in New York. In the 175 other countries, there is at least one head official stationed in each country. The entire count of people working for the vaccination program is at least 200 people. All these workers depend on help and support from each country's Ministry of Health, which will mainly help them distribute the vaccines. UNICEF workers make sure that the vaccines are safe and that each country's program is effective and stable.
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| What can children do to help? |
In the U.S., Ms. Erica Kochi said the biggest thing to do is to raise awareness. Kids really need to learn about what is happening in other countries. For example, UNICEF is vaccinating 2.5 million kids yearly, but with more help and donations they could be vaccinating 2 million more children.
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