Kigali, Rwanda (April 2, 2009) – Today the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) officially handed over to the Rwanda Ministry of Health a 10 cubic meter cold room facility and a set of cold chain equipment to be used to properly store the pneumococcal vaccine to be launched in Rwanda later this month.
With funding from USAID, the cold chain commodities valued at $464,000 were procured and delivered to the country by the United Nations Children’s Fund Rwanda (UNICEF Rwanda) in coordination with the Rwanda Ministry of Health. The equipment, which will be distributed to health facilities throughout Rwanda, includes 100 refrigerators powered by kerosene, 258 vaccine carriers, 100 cold boxes, 67 ice packs, 1,000 thermometers, and 250 voltage regulators.
In addition, through Family Health International, USAID provided a cold room worth $150,000 to increase the storage capacity for the vaccine at the National Vaccination Center.
The donated equipment is critical to ensuring the potency of the vaccine from its receipt in the country to the moment it gets to the child. The cold room and the equipment will store and preserve approximately 1.4 million dozes of the vaccine donated by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization last month.
The pneumococcal vaccine, successfully used in the United States and other developed countries, has proven to be an effective measure to increase the immune response among infants and young children and preclude preventable deaths. Rwanda is the first Sub-Saharan country to deliver the vaccine as part of the routine Expanded Program on Immunization. The vaccine will be officially launched in Rwanda in late April.
