National Vaccination Week

This past week in Guyana was National Vaccination Week and maternal and child health departments in every region across the country had events, seminars, and rallys to promote vaccination, safe motherhood, and HIV/AIDS awareness. On Thursday April 29th, the maternal and child health department in my region, region 3, held a walk-a-thon and rally in my village that I was lucky enough to be a part of.


It started at 9am when nurses, medex's, community health workers and volunteers from every health center in the region gathered together to walk 2 miles along the main road in Vreed-en-Hoop. Carrying banners and signs and chanting "Immunize your family, protect your community", we marched along, hoping to engage the community in the fight to get a 95% complete vaccination rate for all of region 3. It was inspiring to see so many health workers take time off from their jobs and their lives to help promote such an important message, one that is so vital to ensuring that people are as healthy as possible.

After the march, we made our way to the central market area in the village, right next to the dock where all the boats to and from town are. There, we set up a tent with tables that had posters, pamphlets, and displays with information about vaccinations, safe motherhood and breast feeding, as well as HIV/AIDS and family planning. Under the tent was an area where several nurses were giving out free vaccines for yellow fever, MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) and tetanus, for anyone who needed one. All health care in Guyana is normally free of charge but often times people are unable to get to a health center to receive care and, since there is no law requiring children to be fully vaccinated before attending school, many people have not gotten vaccinated as children.

As the nurses and medex's set up the vaccination area, myself and a few other volunteers set out to recruit passersby to stop and get vaccinated. In the crowded area of the market, there were many people walking past, on their way to and from the boats and most of them were curious as to the huge white tent set up and all the people milling around. And of course, it only added to their curiosity that strange white people were stopping them and asking if they had all their vaccinations up to date :)

I was amazed at the number of people who not only stopped to see what was going on, but looked at the posters and asked questions, not only about vaccinations but about health in general. People were honestly curious about why vaccinations are important, what they do, and who should get them. It felt really good to be out there, talking to people and feeling like I was actually making a difference, even if it was a small one. By the end of the 1st hour, standing out in the hot midday sun, I had gotten 6 people to go get vaccinated, convinced half a dozen others to come back later in the afternoon, and given an impromptu health talk on malaria prevention.

The thing about Peace Corps work, and development work in general, is that the majority of the time, you don't feel like you're actually making a difference. The problems, especially health problems, are so massive and daunting, and you are just one, tiny person that it feels impossible to actually make any sort of lasting change. You have to constantly keep reminding yourself that if you can change one life, one person, one family, to live a healthier life then you've made a difference.Yesterday, I think I really felt that for the first time since I've been here. After hours in the hot sun, I was dehydrated and sunburned, but happy. A few hours of my time spent and I had convinced a young mother to get her yellow fever shot and an older gentleman to get tetanus. Another couple wasn't sure if they had ever gotten MMR and, after talking with another man, he realized that he had gotten a yellow fever vaccine so long ago and never remembered to get another one, until today. It was so encouraging to see people genuinely concerned about their health and willing to take a few minutes out of their day to go get vaccinated and be an example to their family and community. It was definitely one of my better days here in Guyana :)

Love and miss you all,

Lindsay