HERO OF THE WEEK: Health Worker Takes Vaccines to Uganda-South Sudan Border in Kaabong

KAABONG — Akol Anna Grace, the in-charge of Usake Health Centre III, has drawn attention for carrying measles-rubella vaccines to the remote community of Pire near the Uganda-South Sudan border during the final days of the national mass vaccination campaign.

The outreach, conducted in dry grassland and hilly terrain typical of the Karamoja sub-region, forms part of the Ministry of Health’s five-day Measles-Rubella campaign that ran from 1 to 5 October 2026. The exercise targeted all children aged nine to 59 months, regardless of prior vaccination status, in response to repeated outbreaks.

Ministry figures show that more than 5.5 million of an estimated 7.5 million eligible children had received the vaccine by the morning of the final day. Kaabong is among the districts that recorded confirmed measles cases earlier in 2026. National surveillance data indicated outbreaks in roughly 20 districts this year, with twelve measles-related deaths reported by April. Coverage for the second measles-rubella dose has lagged, with analyses showing that a majority of confirmed cases in recent outbreaks had received no doses at all.

In Pire, Grace and her team set up temporary vaccination points using portable cold boxes, reaching households that sit far from fixed health facilities. Residents of border areas in Kaabong often walk long distances for routine services; some communities lack a Health Centre III within their sub-county. Local health officials have previously noted that only a minority of the district’s sub-counties meet the national standard of one Level III facility each, leaving many pastoralist and cross-border families dependent on mobile teams.

The campaign, supported by Gavi and partners including the World Health Organization and UNICEF, combined fixed posts, temporary sites, and door-to-door work. Micro-planning began months earlier, with district teams using both census figures and household counts to estimate targets. Health workers were instructed to vaccinate every eligible child on the spot, including those in refugee and migrant groups along the border.

Allan Ssempebwa Kyobe, a communications officer transitioning to the Ministry of Health, shared images of the Pire session on social media, describing the effort as healthcare delivered to the last mile. Similar outreach has been reported in other hard-to-reach parts of Karamoja, where insecurity, sparse road networks, and seasonal movement of communities complicate routine immunisation.

By the campaign’s close, officials urged caregivers who had not yet brought children forward to use remaining posts. Full protection against measles requires two doses, normally given at nine and eighteen months; the mass exercise was designed as a booster to close immunity gaps that have allowed transmission to continue. Health authorities say sustained community follow-up will be needed after the five-day drive ends if coverage is to remain above the 95 percent threshold required to interrupt outbreaks.

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