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WHO in Syria capacitates community workers to launch a campaign on psychosocial support to parents and caregivers in the context of COVID-19

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WHO in Syria capacitates community workers to launch a campaign on psychosocial support to parents and caregivers in the context of COVID-19

18 April 2021 - In Syria, approximately one in 10 people is expected to be living with a mild to moderate mental health condition, while 1 in 30 is likely to suffer from a more severe condition. Prolonged exposure to conflict increased the prevalence of mental health conditions. COVID-19 has added more strain to the mental wellbeing of families in Syria. In 2020 only, WHO provided over 220 thousand mental health consultations and services through integrated community-based services – either through mobile clinics or through family wellbeing centres across the country.

In 2020, WHO Syria, as a member of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS RG), supported the development of “My Hero is You”, a story telling book for children. The project was supported by global, regional and country based experts from member agencies of the IASC MHPSS RG, in addition to parents, caregivers, teachers and children in 104 countries. The book was designed to support children and parents who had anxieties and fears associated with COVID-19. In a short time, “My Hero is You” gained so much popularity, that it was translated into many languages of the world, including Arabic.

WHO Syria’s Mental Health team went further to adapt the book as a colouring book. The team believed in the healing power of innovative and interactive interventions, such as arts, on children and on families. The Syrian adaptation in English and Arabic are now available for the global audience on the IASC website.

To make the colouring book available to children and families in Syria who in its majority do not have access to online resources in rural places, WHO Syria printed out the publication in the framework of the Regional Solidarity Initiative and plans to distribute them in two pilot districts in Rural Damascus. Through 10 outreach teams of community workers from two NGOs, mainly, Inaash Al-Fakeer Association and Al-Qutayfah Association, WHO Syria plans to reach communities – parents, caregivers and children. The NGOs will not only distribute the colouring book and crayons to children, but will also provide psycho-social support sessions to parents and caregivers and teach them how to talk to children who have fears.

NGOs, with the support of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour, and WHO will implement the campaign to deliver mental health and psycho-social support messages about how to cope with stress and how to enhance wellbeing for oneself and others. The campaign will also provide direct services with a special focus on combating the dual social stigma related to mental health and COVID-19 response.

Prior to the campaign launch, from 4 to 15 April 2021, NGO outreach teams of about 80 volunteers underwent training by WHO on COVID-19 response focusing on risk communication and community engagement (RCCE), infection prevention and control (IPC), mental health and psycho-social support (MHPSS), as well as basic psycho-social skills for COVID-19 responders as mandated by the updated version of WHO Clinical Management Guideline.

“As adults, we sometimes forget how hard it is being a child. When we see an adolescent, who has difficulties at school, we may think he does not put extra efforts to study, or it is natural for adolescents to behave this way. But what we do not realize oftentimes is that the child may be going through a mental health crisis. We need to help those children to overcome the stress and we can start by simply asking “How can I help you?”. It is a powerful question indeed to start the conversation and listen to the child,” said Latif, 30-year-old primary teacher who participated at the training.

Another participant, twenty-nine-year-old Majdi from Rural Damascus said, “This training has taught me to pose the question as “How can I help?” as opposed to “What’s wrong with you?”

“Mental health remains one of the most neglected areas of public health. This training provides me with a lot of essential information to help children to cope with their fears in the context of COVID-19” said Hwazen (30 years old, doctor) one of the participants.

Many Syrian adults report that their and their children’s well-being and future potential constitute the greatest source of stress. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has added to their already shattered mental health.

“People of Syria share how the war dramatically affected their lives and psychological wellbeing. Thus, mental health services are key to building resilience and positive coping strategies for children, adolescents and adults,” said Dr Akjemal Magtymova, Head of Mission and WHO Representative in Syria.

Now, that the community volunteers are empowered and capacitated, they will launch the campaign using “My Hero is You” colouring book and reaching around five thousand children, hundreds of parents and caregivers and school health educators in the Rural Damascus governorate. Awareness raising sessions on COVID-19 prevention measures and coping with stress strategies will be part of the campaign, as well as focus group discussions with parents and caregivers and dedicated sessions with children, all of which will lead to empowering communities in Syria and strengthening their resilience and mental health.

Related link

Mental health and psychosocial support

Keeping Syria polio-free requires sustained commitment

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Keeping Syria polio-free requires sustained commitment

9 April 2021 - Amidst a decade-long conflict, economic crisis and political upheaval, WHO continues to support strengthening public health programmes and implementation of immunization activities, national polio vaccination campaigns and surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis.

In the middle of March 2021, a national polio immunization campaign concluded, reaching 2.5 million children under the age of five in all 14 governorates of Syria, including high-risk areas of the eastern Euphrates, refugee and IDP camps, and nomadic areas.

“Since Syria is close to countries that are at high risk of polio outbreaks, it is very important to maintain a high immunity barrier for children of age 0–59 months against polio,” said Dr Akjemal Magtymova, WHO Representative to the Syrian Arab Republic. “Last year, we didn’t have any outbreaks of polio or other vaccine-preventable diseases, so this campaign is crucial to sustain the momentum gained.”

Over 10 000 trained health workers and supervisors were mobilized during the campaign, working at the local and governorate level. WHO provided logistical support to ensure the smooth implementation of the campaign. This meant everything from facilitating refresher training for health workers and supervisors, to delivering the vaccines across Syria and transporting mobile vaccination teams and supervisors to just about every part of the country.

As has become standard with mass vaccination activities, COVID-19 preventive measures were strictly followed during the campaign, including physical distancing and the use of gloves, sanitizer, masks and other equipment. With the financial support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO provided personal protective equipment to all vaccinators working through Syria’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI).

Syria has seen a drop in vaccination coverage for multiple antigens over recent years due to the sharp reduction in trained health workers and technical experts and the widespread destruction of infrastructure, including vaccination centres. Raising the immunity level to all vaccine-preventable diseases is a priority, but also a challenge.

Last year, Syria conducted two full national immunization campaigns and one subnational polio campaign.

“Insecurity in Syria is a serious impediment to reaching targeted children with polio vaccine. However, we have managed to reach and vaccinate children to prevent polio re-occurrence in Syria, especially at these times of COVID-19, where there is a risk of under-immunized children,” said Dr Magtymova.

Date of polio

campaign (OPV)

Targeted U5 children

U5 vaccinated

Reported

coverage

Post-campaign monitoring

16–20 February 2020

2 804 279

2 652 471

95%

89%

19–23 July 2020

948 381

972 984

102.6%

89%

11–15 October 2020

2 804 279

2 553 658

91.1%

92%

WHO-supported deworming campaign reaches millions of children in Syria

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WHO-supported deworming campaign reaches millions of children in Syria

Reflection of Michael Atieh, WHO Syrian Arab Republic country office staff member

8 April 2021 - Children go running around playing with each other daily without a worry in mind. They play in the sand, dirt, mud and wherever else their imaginative young minds take them. However, consequences arise when improper sanitation is part of a child’s daily routine. Since these children are young and may not be attentive, they become the most likely victims of intestinal worms. These intestinal worms are transmitted by worm’s eggs present in human faeces, which in turn contaminate soil in areas where sanitation is poor. Consequently, we see intestinal worms affect severely impoverished and hygiene-deprived communities.

Intestinal worms can come in many different shapes and sizes and most commonly cause nausea, fatigue, restlessness, abdominal pain, and weight loss. As a result, if not treated immediately, it can have a devastating effect on a child’s future. Long-term consequences of intestinal worms include cognitive disabilities, anaemia, and growth impairment.

After 10 years of conflict, Syria has become a fertile land for intestinal worms to thrive. Poor sanitation has become the norm in many areas throughout the country, mainly due to either lack of proper water and sanitation infrastructure or lack of education on hygiene.

During the past five years, to fulfil its mandate to provide health services to all people in need, WHO, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education, has supported four soil-transmitted helminths deworming campaigns in Syria. This year’s four-week deworming campaign took place in March targeting 3 036 000 school children from all governorates.

The campaign revealed that the key concern for schools is water distribution. Since there is no clean water, the students cannot properly wash their hands after playing outside, thus creating a higher probability for transmission. The deworming medication provided to schoolchildren was very helpful. However other external factors causing the transmission of worms need to be further addressed.

WHO has played a vital role in eradicating intestinal worms. For over 70 years, thanks to WHO, numerous campaigns have been launched and several committees have been formed tackle to the issue. As a result, in 2001, WHO announced that 75% of school children in endemic areas were receiving deworming treatment. However, worms have not been completely eradicated, as they still affect over 2 billion people worldwide. The work preventing intestinal worms needs to continue.

World Health Day address by WHO Representative to Syria

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Dr Akjemal MagtymovaWHO Representative Dr Akjemal Magtymova7 April 2021 – The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated us all. However, the harshest impact has been on people already experiencing inequities because of poverty, gender, ethnicity, education, occupation, migrant status, disability, and discrimination. In conflict-hit Syria, people are disproportionately vulnerable to exposure to the disease in the context of fragile health systems, they lack access to health services and are heavily impacted by economic consequences of the pandemic. Access to COVID-19 vaccines to reduce ongoing transmission is yet another mammoth task for Syria. 

COVID-19 is not the only health issue that gravely affects people in Syria, 12.4 million of whom need health aid. The efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) through its country presence are specifically focused to protect, promote and improve health for all people in Syria by addressing inequalities. 

Syria is part of the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean Region, where most of the global causalities from health emergencies occur. 

In addition to fatalities, the conflict in Syria continues to cause high rates of disability, communicable and noncommunicable diseases and mental health disorders. Peace is a prerequisite for health, in the absence of which the existing inequities are exacerbated, adversely affecting all aspects of the social determinants of health, including basic human rights, availability of health services, education, employment, income, social protection, shelter, water and sanitation. Furthermore, inequalities are closely interlinked with migration and the weak governance systems. 

WHO uses a health systems approach to deliver health services. The essential building blocks of the health system include health infrastructure, health workforce, medicines and supplies, health information, health financing and governance. While governance, systems, institutions and society are the key for self-reliance and resilience, the humanitarian-development nexus and institution-building are conditional to peace processes and a political solution. 

To save lives, Syria needs a functional health system and to focus on 4 priority areas.  

First, the capacity for public health surveillance and detection is limited.

This requires strengthening the surveillance systems for emerging and remerging threats, as well as laboratory capacities to effectively provide epidemiological evidence, generate predictions and manage risk, especially in the current context. 

Second, Syria needs functioning health facilities so that people can go to health facilities for care and treatment. The destruction caused to health infrastructure over a decade of conflict is enormous, hospitals being affected the most with only half fully functioning. Some governorates and populations are being affected most. For example, in northeast Syria, out of 16 public hospitals, only 1 is fully functioning and 3 are partially functioning. It is a massive challenge to ensure the adequate number of hospital beds in intensive care units, in the wake of the third wave of COVID-19 in Syria.

Third, health workers are the backbone of the health system. With only half of the health care workforce remaining in the country, medical personnel struggle to cope with the overwhelming health needs. We need to invest in the health workforce.

Fourth, it is important to ensure adequate supplies of essential medicines for a minimum of 60 days as part of the national stockpile. Economic impact has affected the hike in the cost of locally produced medicines, making it unaffordable for people and unprofitable for producers, thus limiting access to medicines to millions of people in Syria in these critical times. 

To build back a fairer and healthier future for people of Syria, our collective efforts should prioritize the social determinants of health, equity in health and dignified lives. We must also highlight and mitigate the negative impacts of sanctions on health. We should reduce social inequities, protect human rights, improve gender equality and build resilient communities.

WHO’s vision is to achieve Health for All. As we mark World Health Day, together with partners, we strive to create conditions that allow people to fulfil their health potential and to overcome barriers that prevent women, men and children from accessing quality health services and ensure that those services are available everywhere and to everyone. Our highest priority now is to ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines to protect health and frontline workers and to combat the pandemic.   

 

 

 

Update on COVID-19 vaccination in Syria, 29 March 2021

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Update on COVID-19 vaccination in Syria

29 March 2021 – On 25 March 2021, the COVAX Facility informed that deliveries of doses from the Serum Institute of India (SII) to Syria, including northwest Syria, will be delayed in March and April, and that the closest delivery date may be in May 2021. Delays in securing supplies of SII-produced COVID-19 vaccine doses to Syria as well as to several other countries are due to the increased demand for COVID-19 vaccines in India.

COVAX is the vaccines pillar of the ACT-Accelerator [1], an instrument jointly convened by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations (CEPI), WHO and the Vaccine Alliance (GAVI) to speed up the search for an effective vaccine for all countries; support the building of manufacturing capabilities; and buy supply ahead of time so that 2 billion doses can be fairly distributed globally by the end of 2021.

Under the COVAX facility, Syria is one of the 92 countries eligible for advanced market distribution (AMD) of COVID-19 vaccines.

In coordination with GAVI, WHO and UNICEF are providing detailed technical assistance to the national health authority in Syria and established committees such as the high level National Coordination Committee (NCC), the National COVID-19 Technical Advisory Group (CTAG) and the Inter-Agency Coordination Committee (ICC).

Vaccine Request Form (VRF)

Part A of the COVAX COVID-19 vaccine application document was signed by the Syrian Minister of Health and sent to GAVI on 15 December 2020. On 27 January 2021, the Syrian Prime Minister declared the Syrian government’s approval of the COVAX vaccine initiative. Part B of the vaccine application was signed and sent to GAVI on 3 February.

On 3 February 2021 GAVI acknowledged and expressed the intent to provide initially 1,020,000 doses of Astra Zenica Serum Institute of India (AZ SII) vaccines, to cover the first 3% of the population (targeted high-risk groups), including the population in northeast Syria. Additional 336,000 doses were intended for northwest Syria.

On 15 February 2021 WHO granted Emergency Use Listing (EUL) for the AstraZeneca AZD1222 vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India vaccine (SII-AZ).

Later, the allocation of the AZ SII vaccine was confirmed by GAVI through May 2021 as 912,000 doses for Phase 1 in addition to 224,000 doses of the same vaccine to the Phase 1 vaccine administration in the northwest. The month of June is not included in these allocations, which is the main reason that the quantities are less than the intended indicative allocation previously communicated.

This amount may only cover around 4% of the total population. Indicative distribution is based on current communication of estimated vaccine availability from manufacturers. It is likely that distribution will need to be adjusted in light of circumstances that are difficult to anticipate and variables that are constantly evolving.

The Indemnity and Liability agreement with the manufacturer was signed by the Ministry of Health and the corresponding manufacturer.

Regular daily meetings have been held since the beginning of 2021 by three vaccine-related committees (the NCC, the CTAG and the ICC), with WHO and UNICEF present at the ICC meetings. The WHO COVID-19 Vaccine Introduction Readiness Assessment Tool (VIRAT/VRAF 2.0) has been used to update national readiness status on a monthly basis, with the most recent update submitted on 23 February 2021.

Coordination framework

The NCC, the CTAG, the ICC and 10 technical sub-committees have been fully operational, with clear terms of reference, since the end of January 2021.

1. National readiness assessment

The updated VIRAT/VRAF 2.0 includes assessment of planning and coordination, budgeting, regulatory measures, prioritization, targeting and surveillance, service delivery, training and supervision, monitoring and evaluation, vaccine cold chain, logistics, safety surveillance, and demand generation and communication. It covers a set of 50 key operational activities. Syria has been using this tool according to the following timetable:

  • The first update was submitted at end November 2020;
  • The second update was submitted on 14 January 2021;
  • The third update was endorsed by the Ministry of Health on 20 January 2021;
  • The fourth and final update was submitted on 23 February 2021.

2. Establishment of taskforces

To bridge gaps in capacity and planning and implementation, and to ensure preparedness for key areas of vaccine introduction, 10 sub-committees have been formed as the technical part of the CTAG committee. These sub-committees include WHO and UNICEF focal points, and meet regularly to update the VIRAT/VRAF 2.0 work and prepare necessary materials for the NDVP.

WHO and UNICEF are holding monthly coordination meetings, the first of which took place on 14 February 2021.

3. Population prioritization

The priority categories identified in Part A of the COVID-19 vaccine application document are based on the CTAG’s recommendations, the SAGE values framework and the COVAX facility fair allocation prioritization roadmap. For Syria, the following high-risk groups were agreed upon as targets under COVAX:

  • The health workforce (including frontline social workers and teachers): 3% of the population
  • Older adults (>55-years): approximately 13% of the population
  • People with chronic diseases: 5% of the population.

At present, national authorities collect and consolidate population data at national and governate levels (including from the Ministry of Planning, the Central Statistics Office and the Syndicate of Doctors and Health Workers). This data includes all 14 governorates of Syria, including northwest and northeast Syria. The Ministry of Health relies greatly on existing mechanisms and modalities related to previous experiences of successful routine immunization activities across these governorates (see section 7 for more on northwest Syria).

As decided in a meeting on 7 February 2021, the vaccination of the first 20% of the population will be carried out in three phases as outlined below, with doses adjusted according to quantities made available by COVAX and updates to population figures.

Phase

Groups

Estimated number of people vaccinated*

to be adjusted as per available vaccine allocation

Phase One

All health workers

190 000

Older group (55 years or more)

485 450

Phase Two

Rest of the older group

1 540 900

Persons with comorbidities

1 125 750

School teachers 

302 827

Other essential workers

858 073

Phase Three

 

To be determined

4. Pre-registration mechanism 

In collaboration with the committees, WHO is supporting the development and introduction of an automated pre-registration platform and reporting mechanism. Pre-registration will help identify target groups and aid vaccine distribution. This approach will not, however, be the only method for pre-registration, and exemptions are being factored in for some cases.

5. Service delivery mechanisms

Under current plans, 76 hospitals will be used as service delivery points to provide vaccinations, along with 101 primary health care facilities all over the country. Services will be provided by trained hospital teams and routine immunization personnel in mobile teams. This number of facilities and associated teams is preliminary and subject to change based on ongoing microplanning. Each hospital will have three or more teams assigned to microplanning for each phase of the campaign.

Implementation across northeast Syria will follow the current experiences of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) microplanning through 17 fixed facilities (hospitals and PHC centres) and 105 mobile teams. Formal and informal settlements will be targeted in the same way. Microplanning will also cover the populations of camps across northeast Syria. The first batch of vaccines will target eligible high-risk members of the health workforce and frontline humanitarian workers regardless of location. WHO will support transport of the vaccine inside Syria, including to northeast Syria, and coordinate mobile activities with different stakeholders based on existing operations.

6. Monitoring and evaluation

Currently, for the national immunization programme, the Ministry of Health is using aggregate reporting system where administered doses are recorded by age and gender, tallied along key dimensions, and reported up the health system, often using a mix of digital and paper tools. A similar approach is being used also by the Syria Immunization Group in northwest Syria.

After the immunization campaign concludes, independent monitors from universities, health colleagues and national NGO partners will be deployed to ensure the vaccination campaign coverage. This approach will be used for the COVID-19 vaccination. Furthermore, a more active form of monitoring and evaluation that covers the pre-, intra and post- implementation of the vaccination activity at the field level, including assigning a third party for independent M&E is planned by WHO, UNICEF and MOH.

Paper-based records will be updated to reflect COVID-19 vaccination status to:

  • provide proof of vaccination for individual’s travel, educational or occupational purposes;
  • establish vaccination status in coverage surveys;
  • provide vaccination information in case of an AEFI or in case of a positive COVID-19 test; and
  • provide a useful vaccination card for adults and older adults to which COVID-19 vaccines and other recommended vaccines can be added and guidance on any doses required to complete vaccination course can be found.

During the vaccination campaigns, monitoring activities are conducted through different strata of supervision from the central, governorate, district team supervisors.

For the COVID-19 vaccination, a team consisting of representatives from MOH, WHO and UNICEF is formed and working on a monitoring and evaluation plan for government-controlled areas and northeast Syria. The WHO monitoring guide for COVID-19 vaccination has highlighted the potential sources for COVID-19 vaccination data through Health Information System, facility reports, electronic immunization registers and surveillance data for AEFI/AESI.

In nortwest Syria, WHO in partnership with UNICEF and COVID-19 taskforce is updating Monitoring and Evaluation tools and strategies for the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. In northwest Syria the evaluation process will be implemented through third party independent monitors who will be deployed to ensure the vaccination campaign process in 3 phases - pre, intra and post campaign monitoring.

7. Risk communication and demand generation

WHO and UNICEF are working in close cooperation with the Ministry of Health to develop the COVID-19 vaccination media campaign, which includes capacity building workshops for journalists, health educators and community influencers. It also entails the development of a full media package (TV and radio spots, social media messages, billboards, posters, flyers, etc.) to be implemented nationally.

Based on learnings from previous COVID-19 prevention and response interventions, five strategies will guide the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines at national and state level. These are as follows:

  • advocacy to gain commitment and garner support for rollout the new COVID-19 vaccine;
  • capacity building to enhance communication and community mobilization skills of target workers (including heath care providers, health education officers, NGOs, etc.);
  • media engagement and social media campaigns to promote balanced, evidence-based discourse on COVID-19 vaccines and the vaccination process (these campaigns will set out to manage demand and vaccine hesitancy, build trust and manage misinformation and rumours);
  • community engagement; providing prompt, simple, focused communication to communities in order to manage expectations and hesitancy concerns; and
  • crisis communication, including around adverse events following immunization (AEFI). Rapid responses will be prepared to manage crisis situations arising from demand and vaccine hesitancy.

8. Northwest Syria

WHO Syria maintains a direct day-to-day dialogue with the WHO hub in Gaziantep, Turkey. Together with UNICEF, the hub has submitted a COVAX application for implementation of COVID-19 vaccinations based on the existing immunization programme in northwest Syria.

As previously mentioned, northwest Syria has been allocated 224 000 doses of the AstraZeneca AZD1222 vaccine through May 2021. With the current changes in the delivery dates, Northwest Syria will also experience delays in vaccine deployment.  

Target groups were prioritized based on a series of discussions between involved parties, and include health care workers (3%); elderly people aged 60 and above (7.5%); and people aged 20-59 with special conditions, such as immune-compromised people and those with chronic illnesses (9.5%). The GAVI letter received on 3 February 2021 expresses the intent to allocate sufficient vaccines to cover an initial 3% of the population with AZ SII vaccines (an indicative amount of 336 000 doses).

The following activities have been undertaken in northwest Syria:

  • WHO and partners have finalized the first draft of an estimated budget for the COVAX vaccination campaign that covers different possible scenarios.
  • WHO and partners have finalized the development of the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan for northwest Syria. This was submitted to the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean and presented to, and approved by, the Regional Review Committee on 16 February 2021.
  • The Vaccine Introduction Readiness Assessment Tool (VIRAT) was updated during the week of 22 March 2021.

Partners are developing standard operating procedures (SOPs), formats and channels for the vaccination campaign and reviewing training materials for the context of northwest Syria.

The Health Cluster and partners are supporting estimations of the number of priority health workers in the field, with the aim of improving the accuracy of estimated numbers.

9. Development of the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan (NDVP)

The NDVP was submitted on 9 February, resubmitted after comments on 19 February, and approved on 22 February. Two trained WHO consultants (international, national) are currently supporting sub-committees at the Ministry of Health that are working on microplanning.

10. Guidelines, forms, reporting materials

Work is ongoing to develop the following resources:

  • vaccination cards, vaccination registers and reporting forms;
  • a monitoring and supervision checklist;
  • guidelines, checklists and reporting forms for AEFI;
  • updated COVID-19 reporting forms that include vaccination;
  • infection prevention and control (IPC) and waste management protocols; and
  • communication materials.

11. Cold chain

A nationwide cold chain inventory has been finalized and gaps for different scenarios have been identified. Training-of-trainers for cold chain and logistics officers has been conducted at central level. UNICEF has contracted two consultants to review and enhance this component, and the cold chain application was submitted on 21 February 2021. WHO’s Gaziantep hub and partners have developed the cold chain equipment (CCE) application for northwest Syria, which was submitted on 15 February 2021.

12. Vaccination in high-risk areas

The Ministry of Health has decided to use a combination of fixed facilities and mobile teams to vaccinate health workers in hard-to-reach areas. Microplanning will include high-risk groups and high-risk areas and possible mechanisms through which to reach them, based on experience and learning from the EPI. Population figures for camps and settlements are being collected for review and the necessary endorsement regardless of the areas of control (including in northeast Syria).

Next steps and key areas

CTAG meetings will be held to approve the decisions of the technical sub-committees and finalize microplanning. This will include identifying the targeted populations and which vaccination point will cover them; identifying high-risk groups and ways and mechanisms to reach them; and agreeing the number of vaccination days for each team and the number of team members and staff included at each level.

The development of guidelines, protocols, checklists, and reporting forms will then be finalized, and planning will be done for an electronic reporting system to report vaccinations and AEFI cases (discussions on streamlining support for this system are ongoing between the Ministry of Health and WHO. A timeline for all planned activities will be set and ongoing high-level coordination will begin, with the goal of vaccine rollout using a whole-of-Syria approach.

Training-of trainers, cascaded trainings and orientation meetings have started on 17 March 2021 and will continue at a provincial level. The following activities have been rolled out:  

  1. Training of trainers (TOT) for microplanning for all governorates took place (in 2 groups) on 17–20 March 2021.
  2. TOT for service delivery professionals for all governorates took place on 23–24 March 2021.
  3. TOT on vaccination communication for all governorates was organized on 23–24 March 2021.
  4. An orientation meeting was organized at the Ministry of Health for media professionals on 25 March 2021.
  5. Field training in all governorates will begin on the week of 28 March 2021.

Throughout this process WHO and UNICEF will continue to work closely with the Ministry of Health in Syria.

13. Challenges

WHO is committed to making every effort to combat COVID-19 in Syria and make vaccines available to the Syrian people.

There are, and will be, many “unknowns” as we move forward. It is important to know that while at present COVAX allocation is the best means of securing vaccines across Syria, there are also discussions at global level to avail a “humanitarian buffer” of vaccines, which can remain contingent once made available.

Among the many unknowns that could influence vaccine deployment are the following issues:

  • unpredictable manufacturing and global vaccine availability: the exact arrival date of the first batch of vaccine allocated to Syria is still not defined; it became known that the manufacturer – Serum Institute of India – will redirect its vaccine production to domestic Indian needs, thus delaying the delivery to vaccines to Syria until May 2021.
  • the instability of the security situation on the ground;
  • the fact that COVAX commitment is not currently ensured beyond the initial 3%;
  • the fact that options to secure vaccines may be limited in the long run, resulting in increased humanitarian needs;
  • the fact that current mutations and variants of the COVID-19 virus circulating in Syria are not known, making it difficult to predict or prove the efficacy of the introduced vaccines (WHO has sent samples for sequencing at the WHO Regional Reference Labs, so this may improve);
  • uncertain and unpredictable availability of funding to support rollout of COVID-19 vaccination;
  • the fact that continuity of cross-border operations in northwest Syria depends heavily on a UN Security Council Resolution that currently only lasts until July 2021; and
  • the need for contingency planning to ensure continuity of care for Q3 and Q4 of 2021 with COVAX vaccination.

14. Vaccine introduction costs

The estimated operational cost of the first phase of vaccine rollout under COVAX, targeting 3% of the population (front-line health workers and social workers) during the first and second quarter of 2021, is US$7 million. This includes US$4.5 million for areas under the control of the Government of Syria and northeast Syria, and US$2.5 million for northwest Syria.

The second phase of vaccine rollout will target the next 17% of the population and will include the elderly and those with chronic diseases. This will take place in the third and fourth quarter of 2021. The estimated gap in operational costs is US$32 million, including US$24.3 million for areas under the control of the Government of Syria and northeast Syria, and US$7.5 million for northwest Syria.

The table below outlines the operational cost of vaccinating 20% of the population in government controlled areas and northeast Syria, and the agreed cost sharing between WHO and UNICEF.

Estimated Budget Breakdown for Vaccine Introduction Costs to Cover 20% of the Population by end of December 2021

 

Budget summary for 2 Rounds

Damascus  

Gaziantep (cross border)

Total

Cost be covered by WHO CO

Cost to be covered by UNICEF

Cost to be covered by WHO

Cost to be covered by UNICEF

Human resources and incentives

$8,773,424.00

$1,066,317.00

$5,298,979.20

$0.00

$15,138,720.20

Training

$707,323.00

$99,523.00

$358,137.60

$0.00

$1,164,983.60

Meetings

$444,299.00

$0.00

$528,379.92

$0.00

$972,678.92

Cold chain, supplies and Logistic

$2,677,852.00

$2,903,453.00

$752,077.92

$0.00

$6,333,382.92

Transportation

$4,023,314.00

 

$1,526,804.40

$0.00

$5,550,118.40

Evaluation & Monitoring

$1,878,748.00

$0.00

$662,833.00

$0.00

$2,541,581.00

Social mobilization

$952,068.00

$5,317,619.00

 

$500,000.00

$6,769,687.00

Supporting management cost for contracted NGOs

$0.00

$0.00

$372,787.68

$0.00

$0.00

Grand Total

$19,457,028

$9,386,912

$9,499,999.72

$500,000

$38,843,941

الصفحة 9 من 14