Date: Sept 2006
Location: Kongasso region, Ferké district, northern Ivory Coast
Duration: 9' 49" mins
Camera: Alain Pentucci
Producer: Jan Powell, Virginie Louis,
Source: ICRC – Access all

Preview extracts (RealMedia stream 56Kbs - 128kbs):
http://real.xobix.ch/ramgen/icrc/2006/video/cote_ivoire/vaccination.rm

This report will be distributed free-to-air and rights free over the Eurovision World Feed satellites at 14.00 to 14.10 GMT on Tuesday 3 October 2006 as well as on the European Exchange Network (ENEX).


STORY 1 RELAUNCHING IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMMES FOR CHILDREN

00 00 Ferké town, northern Ivory Coast, various shots roadside, market and people, traffic

00 18 ICRC vehicle on country road on way to Dantogo village, Kongasso region to carry out immunization programme

00 31 women in village preparing food

00 41 Group of women and young children gathering for immunization session

00 44 Woman walking to immunization session , carrying baby

01 00 woman and baby - CU

01 06 IV Dr Amadou Fadiga, ICRC (French)

'Il s'agit d'un programme en deux volets, il y a un volet qui est une relance du programme de vaccination qui concerne en Côte d'Ivoire les enfants âgé de zéro a onze mois. Il y a un deuxième volet de vaccination qui concerne les enfants au delà de onze mois, jusqu'a l'âge de cinq ans qui est plutôt un programme de rattrapage parce que la région qui est concerné par ce programme c'est la région sud du district de Mankono qui depuis maintenant quatre ans était totalement silencieuse en ce qui concerne les activités de prévention sanitaire.'

"The programme has two aspects to it, one aspect is the relaunch of the vaccination programme in Ivory Coast for children up to 11 months. The second aspect concerns children between 11 months and five years old which is a catch-up programme, since in the region where we are working, the area south of Mankono, for the last four years there has been absolutely no preventive care going on here whatsoever."

01 41 women children, CU children

01 49 Registration and vaccination record card for Miriam with 7 month old baby Doroty.

02 11 Dr Amadou Fadiga continues

'Dans un mois on va revenir. Normalement pour compléter le programme des enfants, ça doit être continu."

"We'll come back in a month. Because normally to complete the children's vaccination programme, there are several stages."

02 16 Seringe being filled – CU

02 32 Baby Doroty is injected

03 01 Miriam , mother of Doroty is given vaccination card

03 17 Interview Miriam, Dantogo village

"Since my baby was born she hasn’t been vaccinated. Today is the first time, and I know I will have to come back here again for more injections."
03 25 Group of women with babies

03 33 Two children sitting in dust playing

03 43
Interview Dr Hervé Le Guillouzic, ICRC, ( French)

"Dans les périodes de conflit et de guerre, nous sommes très, très inquiets par apport à la santé des enfants, et des femmes, ce sont les premieres victimes des conflits ils payent un prix vraiment très, très lourd, beaucoup plus lourd que par exemple les blessés directs qu'on voit souvent et que nous traitons dans nos équipes chirurgicales. Le taux de mortalité , le nombre d'enfants qui meurent est très, très élevés, et la vaccination et un des moyens le plus simple et le moins cher pour diminuer le nombre d'enfants qui meurent pendant ces périodes de conflits et de violence."

04 19 (English)

"War and conflict in general have a catastrophic impact on child health. Children and women are vulnerable groups and they are the first to pay a very high price . In general because of lack of security the staff is no more available to work in the health centres, women and kids do not have fair or easy acess to health facilties, the drug supply is not here any more and all these reasons produce a complete collapse of the already weak public services. This is why, in such a context, we want, and we are strengthening the capacity, or substituting for the authorities when necessary, to make sure that basic vaccination is done."



STORY 2 - ICRC PROVIDES GRAIN AND FERTILIZER TO STAVE OFF FOOD CRISIS IN NORTHERN IVORY COAST

05 08 Woman pounding maize grain - various shots with CU, village in Ferké district north of Korhogo town

05 17 IV Francois Moreillon, ICRC (French)

"Dans toute la région du Nord en raison à la fois de la crise qui frappe actuellement la Côte d'Ivoire mais également de mauvaise pluviométrie et de la pauvreté des sols, les familles dans les campagnes ont de plus en plus de peine à joindre les deux bouts, et s'appauvrissent de plus en plus rapidement, elles ne sont pas encore entrées dans un période de crise, mais l'action de CICR vise justement a repousser cette période afin de leurs permettre de mieux vivre si possible ."

Throughout the northern region, because of the crisis in Ivory Coast , but also because of the poor rainfall and the worn out soil, families in the countryside are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. They are rapidly becoming impoverished. They are not yet in crisis, but the work undertaken by ICRC is intended to fend off a crisis and to help them raise their standard of living if at all possible."

05 50 Women carrying firewood

05 56 ICRC delgate Francois Moreillon (interviewee) with Red Cross rep walking through village of Parawalakaha in Ferké district north of Korhogo

06 01 Woman picks up baby in arms.
06 08 ICRC lorry loaded with sacks of grain is opened

06 17 Lorry is unloaded, various shots

06 32 Conversation between Francois Moreillon and local Red Cross volunteers who help unload and give out sacks of grain and fertilizer

06 49 IV Francois Moreillon continues (French)

'On voit beaucoup d'enfants êtres en situation de malnutrition, il y a différents centres de malnutrition qui prennent ces enfants en charge dont un de la Croix Rouge au niveau de Korhogo, il y a déjà un impact au niveau de la nourriture mais aussi au niveau des biens, certaines fois les personnes sont obligés de vendre par exemple leurs veaux ou vaches et comme on est dans une région avec de l'agriculture attelée, cela constitue un grand frein à leurs activités agricoles vu qu'il perdent un moyen de production très important pour la région.'

We see many malnourished children, there are a number of nutrition centres looking after these children, including a Red Cross Centre at Korhogo. We have already seen an impact on food stocks, but also on general wealth , as people are often forced to sell their cattle to survive. We are in a subsistence farming area,, and so this really has an impact on agriculture to the point that we are seeing the loss of an important means of production for the area. "

07 19 Two children

07 26 IV Yardjouma Kone, Animation Rurale de Korhogo (ARK) (French)

'Les petites récoltes que les gens font en vivriers ils sont obligées de vendre ces vivriers pour pouvoir disons subvenir à leurs besoins en monnaie. Un enfant tombe malade il faut vendre la nourriture pour pouvoir le soigner. Quand vous voulez manger de la viande il faut vendre de la nourriture pour acheter de la viande, ce qui contribue vraiment à l'appauvrissement des paysans.'

The tiny amounts that the people are able to produce , they actually have to sell to get the money they need to live. If a child falls ill, you have to sell food in order to be able to pay for medical care. If you want to eat meat, you have to sell other food to be able to buy it. So all in all, its making them poorer and poorer."

07 55 Calling villagers to collect sacks of grain and fertilizer

08 02 Giving finger print as ID to get sack

08 13 Woman sieving grain

08 21 Lacina Coulibaly (interviewee below) collecting sack of grain and taking it home

08 42 IV Lacina Coulibaly, villager (in local language)

"There is big difference between the production of past years, the years before the crisis, and today during the crisis. During the crisis we are producing very little because its really very difficult, the cotton cooperatives who used to give out the fertilizer don’t exist any more, because of the crisis. So it is very difficult for us to grow enough. "

08 57 In field, farmer planting the maize grain he has received - various shots

09 24 Market in town of Ferké, north Ivory Coast , with women selling various types of grain and cassava.

09 49 LAST IMAGE


STORY 1 RE-LAUNCHING IMMUNIZATION PROGRAMES FOR THE CHILDREN OF NORTHERN IVORY COAST

As elections planned for end October in Ivory Coast are delayed for the second year running, the people in the rebel- controlled north struggle to return to normality. After over four years of conflict, basic services have been severely undermined. Health services in particular have broken down leaving children specially vulnerable, as Dr Hervé Le Guillouzic, from the ICRC explains: "War and conflcit in general have a catstrophic impact on child health … they are the first to pay a very high price." In parts of northern Ivory Coast, children have not been immunized against common and potentially fatal childhood illnesses for three to four years. With the failure of vaccination programmes, measles is on the rise and cases of polio have been reported, though the disease was thought to be controlled in Ivory Coast.

With no firm end to the crisis in sight and in view of the urgent need to rebuild healthcare services, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has launched an immunization programme in the north for babies and older children who 'missed out' during the years of conflict. The ICRC team works with local health services, going to villages to immunize mothers and babies. In the village of Dantogo in Nankono district in the Kongosso region, 40 babies and under fives are seen being registered and vaccinated, including 7 month old Doroty. Her mother Mariam explains, 'Today is the first time she has been vaccinated and I will have to come here again.'

According to the WHO, vaccination is a ' near perfect health intervention', preventing disease before it takes root , protecting children when they are most vulnerable and providing them with a healthy start in life. The ICRC health team will be back in Dantogo to ensure children receive the full course protecting them against common diseases: polio, tetanus, diphtheria, mumps, measles, Hepatitis B and TB. Children also receive Vitamin A supplements. Mothers are vaccinated against tetanus which is particularly dangerous for women giving birth. Over a six month period around 7,000 pregnant women and children under five 5 years old are now being immunized in 27 villages in Kongosso and Kounahiri in the Mankono health district

Following the peace agreement in 2003, Ivory Coast has been left divided, the north and south separated by a military buffer zone. It had been hoped that elections planned for end October this year would reunite the country and make way for a full recovery from years of conflict, but elections have again been delayed. Meanwhile, vaccination programmes in both the government -held south and rebel-held north remain disrupted. Services which normally collect data about disease outbreaks are no longer working effectively. According to WHO statistics, child mortality in Ivory Coast is already one of the highest in Africa, and three or more years without immunization services have greatly increased the risk of epidemics and under-five mortality.

Re-starting the vaccination programme is vital according to Dr Hervé Le Guillouzic as, " it is one of the simplest and cheapest ways to reduce the number of children who die during periods of conflict or violence."


STORY 2 PREVENTING FOOD CRISIS IN NORTHERN IVORY COAST

The conflict has had a devastating effect on the country's food production. Farmers have not been able to tend crops, or move freely to market. Community infrastructure has collapsed. Agricultural cooperatives, which used to bulk-buy and sell seed and fertilizer, no longer exist. This comes on top of a three year drought which has further reduced output. According to Francois Moreillon, working for the ICRC in this area, people are finding it more and more difficult to make ends meet.

Because of the disruption to farming, families have had to eat the grain they would normally have saved for next year's planting - the effect has lead to a gradual deterioration in living conditions, an increase in poverty and child malnutrition. The lack of seed, plus the lack of water and fertilizer to make it grow, have been devastating for the poorest families. In Tiepke village, Yardjouma Kone explains 'when your child falls sick, you have to sell some of your food to care for him - and that means that people here are getting poorer and poorer."

To fend off a crisis in the making, the ICRC is providing supplies of seed and fertilizer. It is helping around 18,000 of the poorest people in 80 villages north of the town of Korhogo, northern Ivory Coast. In the village of Parawalakaha, 35 year old Lacina Coulibaly is seen being given sacks of maize grain and fertilizer for his own small plot which provides food for his family of 12. He explains, " During the crisis we are producing very little because its really very difficult, the cotton cooperatives who used to provide us with the fertilizer don’t exist any more because of the crisis … so we cant grow enough."

By providing stocks of seed and fertilizer, the ICRC hopes to tide the most vulnerable people over until the next harvest. It is a life-saver for the villagers who hope that with an end to the crisis, stability should return to the area, and farming conditions should also improve.

END