The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is perennially near the top of the list of countries with confirmed cases of measles each year, resulting in one of the highest disease burdens in the world.  A number of obstacles in the country contribute to this situation and it is a challenge that requires the work of numerous organizations to ensure that children are protected from vaccine preventable diseases.   In honor of Africa Vaccination Week the Measles & Rubella Partnership would like to share a story of success sent to us by Village Reach, an organization that supports vaccination p rograms in the DRC through the improvement of supply and cold chains critical to the delivery of vaccines.

Dr. Taty Boseke is Village Reach’s Health District Manager in the Lolanga-Mampoko district of the Equator province. In Lolanga-Mampoko he has helped implement the Next Generation of Supply Chain program with the local health centers to improve their supply chain systems and ensure that vaccines are available to children in need.  Through this work notable improvements have been seen in the district, including an increase of more than double for vaccination sessions conducted in the last year.

A blog written by Dr. Boseke with further details of the work being done in Lolanga-Mampoko is available on Village Reach’s site and can be found here.