TEHRAN – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education has enhanced the country’s vaccine cold chain system by providing walk-in cold rooms and refrigerated vehicles.

According to a press release by the UNICEF website on January 10, procuring, transporting, storing, and delivering vaccines to children in all corners of the world is a complex process that needs a well-functioning cold chain system.

Concerning the fact that the provision of standard immunization services to the community, especially children under five, is a key component of primary health care, in 2020, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education conducted an assessment in cities with more than 200,000 population to check the number of walk-in cold rooms for storing vaccines.

In 2023, considering the existing need for a strong cold chain system to preserve and maintain the quality and potency of vaccines nationwide, 19 medical universities were prioritized for the installation of walk-in cold rooms.

Inadequate walk-in cold rooms, number of population in each region, and climate conditions, which affect vaccine delivery and storage, are among the important factors in prioritizing an area.

Funded by the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), in the first phase, UNICEF in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Medical Education installed nine walk-in cold rooms in the provinces of Isfahan, Hormozgan, East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Khorasan Razavi, Ardebil, Tehran, Sistan-Baluchestan and Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari.

In the second phase, to enhance the country’s vaccine cold chain system, UNICEF provided 17 high-quality refrigerated vehicles, which were distributed to medical universities in Jahrom, Sirjan, Dezful, Tehran, Rafsanjaan, Behbahan, Saveh, Kashan, Khoy, Qazvin, Semnan, Qom, Larestan, Shahrood, Babol, Chabahar, and Shahrekord provinces.

This initiative, funded by UNICEF’s Access to Covid-19 Tools Accelerator and Humanitarian Action for Children (ACT-A-HAC) UNICEF and Gavi, the vaccine alliance, will continue in 2024 with provision and installation of another 10 walk-in cold rooms across the country, the report added.

UNICEF and its partners are making great strides towards a healthier future for children in Iran by providing essential cold chain equipment.

In addition to providing equipment, UNICEF’s technical support includes training and capacity building of health staff to ensure that vaccines are managed in line with global norms and standards, the report announced.

Previous services

In December 2023, UNICEF held remedial classes for more than 1,500 students in six provinces of the country with high numbers of refugees.

The Ministry of Education, the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants Affairs of the Ministry of Interior, and Relief International cooperated with UNICEF to implement the remedial classes program in the provinces of Fars, Isfahan, Khorasan Razavi, Semnan, Sistan-Baluchestan, and Yazd.

The program was supported by financial aid from the EU’s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the UNICEF website announced in a press release on December 27.

It helped the students, no matter whether Iranian or Afghan, who had fallen behind in school work for different reasons, such as not benefiting from pre-primary and schools’ readiness programs or COVID-19 pandemics, to cover their education gaps and catch up with their lessons.

Through UNICEF-supported remedial courses conducted from March to May 2023, each student received at least 30 hours of different subjects, including Persian, Mathematics, and Science.

Both Afghan and Iranian students enjoyed high-quality education in case of learning loss.

In addition, at the end of the course, each student received nutrition, hygiene packs, and stationery, to prepare them for the next academic year.

The Ministry of Health and UNICEF cooperated to take necessary actions to combat malnutrition among vulnerable children in Yazd and Khorasan Razavi provinces.

Funded by the ECHO, the initiative provided 750 children under five, with essential nutrition supplies designed for the prevention and management of malnutrition in health facilities, the UNICEF website announced in a press release in November 2023.

Also, 165 severely malnourished children benefited from therapeutic supplements in Yazd and Khorasan Razavi provinces’ hospitals.

With the improvement of the nutritional status of these children, UNICEF is now positioned to advocate for the widespread use of these supplies in less advantaged provinces and areas, the report added.

In addition, UNICEF plans to support the production of relevant domestic products to provide a sustainable solution to malnutrition-related challenges faced by communities in need.

Recently, the Iranian Red Crescent Society in cooperation with UNICEF organized eight educational workshops for students and their family members residing in the city of Khoy which was struck by a strong earthquake in January.

On January 28, 2023, an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit Khoy in the northwestern West Azarbaijan province. The disaster affected at least 261,000 people and displaced 130,000 from their homes.

A total of 1,700 male and female students and 120 of their family members attended these workshops.

These educational workshops were held to empower children and their families in team building, team support, anger management, emotion regulation, empathy, happiness, self-care, and environmental care.

Facilitators of these workshops had earlier participated in a capacity-building training program organized jointly by UNICEF and the IRCS, funded by the ECHO, the UNICEF website announced in a press release in November 2023.

Two pilot programs for the well-being and empowerment of young boys and girls have been launched in four provinces of the country.

Ministry of Sports and Youth and the Drug Control Headquarters in cooperation with UNICEF have implemented these programs in Kermanshah, Alborz, Isfahan, and Mashhad.

One program is for empowering adolescents and young boys and the other program is for girls' psycho-social health and their empowerment.

Soft and technical skills are taught to boys aged 15 to 24 in three UNICEF-supported centers located in Kermanshah, Alborz, and Isfahan provinces.

The centers provide different services including on-the-job training, internships, mentoring, psycho-social support, counseling, and social entrepreneurship programs.

The focus of this program is to facilitate a smooth transition from learning to earning, empowering 1,618 adolescents and youth in these provinces, the UNICEF website announced in a press release on November 13.

In the next step, with the expansion of this program, it will encompass the following provinces: Sistan-Baluchestan, South Khorasan, Khorasan Razavi, Kerman, and Hormozgan.

Some of these provinces have a significant number of Afghan refugee children and adolescents.

Simultaneously, the psycho-social well-being and empowerment centers for girls in the cities of Mashhad and Kermanshah have played an important role in addressing the psycho-social challenges of vulnerable adolescent girls in these provinces.

These centers are dedicated to preventing substance use and mitigating social harm among young girls, the report added.

MT/MG