GET VACCINATED

Rita Hawkins

Health 3

Nyaruguru District

Greetings!

I wanted to take a little bit of time and talk about vaccinations in Rwanda.  Every Tuesday at my health center in Nyaruguru district children come from the neighboring villages to have their children vaccinated. On average we have about thirty children, of course depending on the month this can vary from ten to fifty. These children range in age from hours old to nine months with a healthy divide between girls and boys and the occasional set of twins.

We start each day with greetings to the mother’s and or father’s whoever has brought their child in for their immunizations. Although the majority is mothers, fathers have been taking a stronger more active role in the health care of their children.  After greeting everyone, a collection is made of their ‘fiche’ or their medical card, with information ranging from the name of the child, date of birth, mother and father’s name, location of home and inside growth charts with weight and age also called their BMI.

Once this collection is made in no less than four books is this information recorded and updated depending on the number of visits had already by the child. There are a total of five visits; first the child will receive their BCG, the first polio shot and a fiche then at nine months finish with a VAR (measles) and the distribution of a mosquito net.  This information is carefully collected and recorded not only for the health center at hand but also for the district hospital and for the national registration of children tracked by the Ministry of Health in Rwanda. 

Finally the day is finished with the nurse or doctor helping with vaccinations giving the children their immunizations one at a time. A side note, to compare American children and the children of Rwanda, the Rwandan children seem to cry a lot less or at least for a shorter amount of time in comparison.  But, this has turned in to one of the most rewarding days, you are able as volunteer to meet all the mama’s from your village and neighboring ones and meet their children for the first time.  It has also been a side project of my own to record the new mothers who have given birth at the health center and the ones that have elected to birth at home or somewhere else for example the hospital.

I have noticed as I have worked in this department for the past year and half that mother’s have been the primary parent who bring the children to these days of vaccinations, although I am seeing more and more as time goes on that father’s have been coming alone with their children to receive their immunizations. I think it is a true sign of development that  time has progressed enough that Rwanda has begun to change from the old ways of mother’s being the one that are issued the task of taking care of health issues for their children. Father’s are becoming more active in this part of their children’s lives.   It speaks volumes about the development of Rwanda and the importance that has been placed on bring children in for vaccinations and continuing  until it is complete at nine months. I will continue to work in this department until my time is finished in Rwanda in 2013 and will continue to enjoy it every week. I look forward to seeing the progression of vaccination days and the involvement of parents, and remember GET YOUR CHILDREN IMMUNIZED!