Special Delivery: HKI’s Gift to 11 Million Children in the DRC
Kinshasa, December 7, 2005 – Helen Keller International (HKI) distributed vitamin A capsules to an estimated 11 million children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in November. As part of the organization’s commitment to enhance maternal and child health, HKI is integrating vitamin A supplementation into the country’s existing National Immunization Days (NIDs). This most recent vitamin A distribution campaign was conducted in collaboration with UNICEF through funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and Micronutrient Initiative.
The campaign was the second undertaken in 2005 with CIDA-funding; the first took place in May 2005. According to government reports following the first campaign, HKI provided vitamin A capsules to over 10 million children, representing 87% of the target group (children between 6 and 59 months in the DRC). In addition, HKI provided children between the ages of 1 and 6 with mebendazole for deworming.
Although there have been no recent recorded polio cases in the DRC, the government has continued with polio immunizations due to several cases occurring in neighbouring countries. In collaboration with the government, UNICEF and the World Health Organization have been immunizing children against polio during the NIDs in seven of the 11 provinces in the DRC as well as in 50% of an eighth province. HKI is working with UNICEF to provide vitamin A with mebendazole to children during the NIDs, and is also providing these services to children living in provinces that are not participating in the NIDs.
Child mortality in the DRC is one of the highest in the world with 1 in 5 children dying before their fifth birthday in 2001. The political insecurity in the eastern part of the country continues to impede access to health care, and mortality rates in the region are 75% higher than in areas where there is no violence. According to a recent report of the International Rescue Committee, approximately 1,000 people die every day in areas of conflict, not as a result of violence but from easily preventable diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and other infections. Children under five account for 45% of recorded deaths.
HKI will continue its efforts at mass vitamin A distribution with particular attention to areas of unrest, where vitamin A could help children increase resistance against infections.
  
From left to right: Mr. Emile
Bongeli Yeikolo Ya Ato, DRC Minister
of Public Health, opening the
vitamin A supplementation campaign;
Minister of Public Health distributing
vitamin A; Blind band members
performing songs about vitamin
A and mebendazole.
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