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Ukraine

Making every school a health-promoting school: global standards and indicators

Credits

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Outcome

Improved access to essential medicines, vaccines, diagnostics and devices for primary health care

[COUNTRY STORY]

How swift and high COVID-19 vaccination uptake contributed to effective population protection against illness and deaths and to the country’s back to normal life and development: the case of Mauritius

Mauritius

Photo: WHO Mauritius Training of staff on vaccination

COVID-19 vaccine restoring access to essential services

In Mauritius, a population with a high prevalence of non-communicable diseases and co-morbidities, a high population density, and a large elderly population, the risk of severe COVID-19 disease was high. To mitigate this risk, the Government of Mauritius launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign in January 2021, with technical and financial support from WHO. By leveraging existing primary healthcare and non-communicsable disease (NCD) programmes, COVID-19 vaccination delivery was deployed equitably throughout the country. By December 2022, two-dose vaccination coverage among adult population was 91% and booster dose coverage was 66%. This high level of vaccine coverage enabled borders to be reopened, allowing the economy to return to pre-COVID-19 growth, and was effective at preventing severe illness and fatalities. The bed occupancy rate and admissions in COVID-19 wards reduced substantially. The overall country case fatality rate was 0.39%.

Key WHO Contributions

Facilitating negotiations for the purchase of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility
Developing the National Vaccine Deployment Plan (NDVP)
Improving vaccination storage and handling
Training healthcare workers on the safe and efficient administration of vaccines.

How did Mauritius, with the support of the WHO Secretariate, achieve this?

As an upper income country, Mauritius was not eligible for COVAX donations. WHO Mauritius, however, facilitated a negotiation process to purchase COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility in order to speed up access [1]. In December 2020, WHO Mauritius provided technical support to the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MoHW) to develop the National Vaccine Deployment Plan (NDVP) aligned to WHO guidelines. The plan aimed to introduce and roll out the deployment of COVID-19 vaccines on a phased basis, and clearly described the organization of the deployment, implementation, and monitoring of the COVID-19 vaccine(s). The plan used WHO’s Reaching Every District strategy with the goal of achieving 80% immunization coverage in all districts and 90% nationally.

To ensure efficient storage and handling of the vaccines, WHO Mauritius deployed an expert in cold chain management to evaluate and assess the capacities and needs for COVID-19 vaccine storage and to develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the safe and effective storage and handling of the vaccines. The expert also trained health professionals on the use of these SOPs to manage cold chain systems. Furthermore, WHO Mauritius procured 60 temperature data loggers for the MoHW.

^{Training of staff on vaccination.}Photo credit: WHO Mauritius.

Subsequently, WHO Mauritius provided technical expertise to facilitate a five-day training in early January 2021, in which 300 healthcare workers gained knowledge and skills for safe and efficient vaccine administration. These workers were mostly nursing officers assigned to the COVID-19 mobile vaccination team under the health promotion unit.

In January 2021, the NDVP launched a COVID-19 vaccination campaign targeting healthcare workers (HCWs), frontline workers in essential services, and individuals aged 60 and above. Three months later the vaccine was offered to the general population.

At the beginning of the vaccination campaign, vaccine hesitancy was rampant. To counter the infodemic a nationwide Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) strategy was launched which included radio talks, television programmes, and social media. WHO’s global information, communication and education materials were adapted by WHO Mauritius to suit the local context. Eminent personalities and community role models encouraged vaccination by setting examples. In collaboration with the private sector, worksite sensitization campaigns were held prior to vaccination sessions.

“As I was anxious about how the vaccine might affect my health, I sought information from my doctor. The staff at her local health centre was very reassuring on the benefits of the vaccination. Thanks to them, I am quite confident that the vaccine will help me to avoid getting severe forms of COVID-19.”

- Cindy Frederic, member of the public

Tourism is an important driver of economic growth in Mauritius and constitutes around 15% of GDP. Opening the borders for tourists was a priority, but to protect public health the authorities decided to limit incoming tourists until 60% of the population were vaccinated and had accumulated antibodies to protect them against COVID-19. The vaccination programme achieved this goal by September 2021, one month ahead of planned schedule. In late 2021, Mauritius launched a targeted vaccination campaign for children aged 12-17 years, followed by pediatric vaccination, allowing children to go back and safely attend in-person classes, thus reducing disruption to the school calendar that had been experienced in the past years.

“We have put in place seven mobile teams to ensure the vaccination of children, including a team for domiciliary vaccination. Now that vaccines for children are available in Mauritius, we need to protect our children and I am sure no parent would like to take any risk with the emergence of new COVID-19 variants.”

- Dr Hon. Jagutpal, Minister of Health, Mauritius

The key to the country’s success in combating the virus has been the combination of political determination to protecting the population, technical assistance from WHO Mauritius, large-scale vaccine donations from international partners, and a robust healthcare system. As the severity and case fatality rate of the virus have decreased, there has been a tendency for the elderly and those with serious co-morbidities to be complacent about getting their booster doses. To guarantee a lasting defense against the virus, it is imperative that comprehensive COVID-19 vaccination efforts be sustained into the future.

References

Gavi COVAX Facility