Pre-medical student Salman Al Jerdi (Class of 2012, left) was among those students distributing leaflets about immunization at Landmark shopping mall in November.
Vaccination is one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions. With well over two million deaths worldwide currently averted through immunization each year (according to the World Health Organization), students at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar are keen to join in efforts to protect the community in Qatar. And the National Health Authority's (NHA) latest Multi-Antigen Mass Immunization Campaign is a chance for them to do just that.
This month, students from the Medical College will join teams of doctors and nurses, from the NHA's Communicable Disease Control & Prevention section, in the second round of the campaign.
The aim is to ensure immunity against the wild polio virus in children aged 2 months to 5 years, and the total elimination of measles, rubella and pneumococcal diseases from Qatar.
Youssef Francis (Class of 2012) gets behind the National Health Authority's Multi-Antigen Mass Immunization Campaign, as he takes a question from an interested community member.
Students will actively participate in the administration of oral polio vaccine (OPV) drops to children at schools and kindergartens in Doha, and assist health-care professionals in administering the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR).
The January round follows WCMC-Q student participation in health awareness sessions at Doha's Landmark shopping mall this past November. Students helped educate the local community on the importance of immunization by speaking with community members and handing out leaflets with information.
With previous experience of the NHA's 2005 immunization campaign, and knowledge gained during workshops at Hamad Medical Corporation of the relevant diseases, vaccine storage procedures and administration of the vaccines, students are well prepared for the coming round.
Report by Krista Dobinson, Assistant Editor/Writer, WCMC-Q