Supported by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Congo-Brazzaville has just launched a program called “Mangwélé” which consists of reminding women, by SMS, of the dates of vaccinations for their children up to one year old. . The program is supported by the Japanese government.
With our correspondent in Brazzaville, Loicia Martial
The Tenrikyo health center is located in the first district, south of Brazzaville. Here, a dozen women who gave birth on the eve of the weekend have been registered to receive reminders of their children’s vaccination dates by SMS. An approach appreciated by Pascaline Massamba, who runs this center:
” ”Mangwélé” is something good because women, when they come home after giving birth, only take care of housework and no longer think about vaccinations. We will wake them up. As soon as the phone rings, they will know it is the vaccination and will have the courage to come “, she comments.
Doctor Soliou Badarou, head of the child survival and development section at the UNICEF office in Congo, masters the system: ” It is a question here of making it an ally of the populations so that they are regularly informed of the various appointments. It works like this: as soon as a child is born in a maternity ward, the number of one of the parents is automatically recorded. And, two or three days before the vaccination appointment, the person receives a text message telling them that your baby has a vaccination appointment in two days. This appointment is repeated gradually until the age of one year “, he specifies.
Tested for the time being only in Brazzaville, the system should cover the whole country by the end of the year, according to Doctor Soliou Badarou.