Vaksiny

Every Thursday morning I help at the CSB with vaccines. We typically have four people helping to get through 50-60 babies from newborn to 11 months. No electricity or computers and so all record keeping is done by hand. Each mother is supposed to have a karnet for her baby which is a small notebook (often with Kim Kardashian or Taylor Swift on the front) with the name of the baby, mother, father, birth date, place, weight, and to keep track of vaccines and weight gain progress. The CSB keeps track of immunizations and weight on cartes which is a card with all the information that the karnets have but kept for CSB use. Each karnet has a number (ex. Vacc 351/14) that corresponds with the carte. Helper #1 looks through the cartes organized by fokontany and by month that the next vaccine is due. Helper #2 fills out the cartes and karnet by writing the date of the next vaccine (there are 12 vaccines that should be completed by the time the baby is 10 or 11 months). Helper #3 weighs the babies on a small scale. Helper #4 is the midwife administering the vaccines. Between the waiting, weighing, and vaccines, there's a lot of crying from roughly 50 babies each week.

My least favorite spot is the weighing station. I really struggle to pronounce Malagasy names (most last names begin with R and are 12 letters long), nobody can understand me anyway, and another helper has to say the name again. However, I've learned what the miniumum weights babies should be at according to their age. This way I can tell the mother if the baby is on the right track or if the mother needs some nutrition counseling. I have recently been looking through records at the CSB and SEECALINE to determine the weights of children in 2012 and 2013. I've found that roughly 30% of children in my commune are underweight with the largest percentage in the 9-12 month age range. At 6 months, mothers are supposed to introduce complimentary foods in addition to breast milk. Perhaps mothers are unsure what to feed their babies at this age. I will work with my Acs to educate the mothers.

I've also encouraged the helpers to check if the karnet has the mother's vaccinations, and if it does, ensure that the mother is up to date as well. Mothers are supposed to receive a series of 5 vaccines to protect againt tetanus. The first two vaccines are given one month apart at prenatal consultations. The third vaccine is given 6 months later. Many women don't return for their next vaccine once the baby is born causing them to start the series over again during the next pregnancy. By checking the karnets during baby vaccinations, more mothers are getting the immunizations they need as well

You know you're a PCV when:

-Meals get more creative as time goes on. Ex. Pico de Gallo and cheese sandwich

-You're taxi-brousse takes the dry river bed route to the banking town instead of the road