Keeping vaccines mobile: The moving warehouse

In Saint-Louis Region, Senegal, diseases which claim the health and lives of children under the age of five are a major public health issue. However, the majority of these deaths, in particular those from measles, can be prevented by vaccines; and the critical polio vaccine can prevent disabilities in these children as well. There’s no question the vaccination program was very successful in Saint-Louis Region. However, it was difficult to find available space to store the vaccines in the existing vaccine storage refrigerators. In addition, in order to reduce vaccine wastage, new, more expensive vaccines are now being packaged with fewer doses per vial, leading to both transportation and storage needs doubling. In order to get vaccine supplies for their clinic from the health districts, some nurses based in villages had to travel for an entire day, sometimes by moped. ...