The German Last Mile Initiative supports partners in South Africa to reach vulnerable and hard-to-reach groups in Mpumalanga province with information and access to COVID-19 vaccines. GIZ implements the financed measures through the Vaccines for Africa: Roll-out and Production in South Africa project. The project aims to reach residents of specific geographical areas, including mine workers, seasonal agricultural workers, residents of informal settlements and victims of gender-based violence. It does this by deploying mobile teams to raise awareness, share information about COVID-19 vaccines, and administer vaccinations. The teams go door-to-door, organise community meetings, and use social media and printed materials to reach people with information and offers of vaccination. These information measures have reached over 810,000 people. More than 1,300 undocumented persons were among the 20,000 people who were vaccinated against COVID-19 with support from the project.
- Executing project: Vaccines for Africa: Roll-out and Production in South Africa (SAVax)
- Implementing organisation: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
- Commissioned by: Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
- Local partners: National Department of Health, Ndlovu Research Center
- Funding: 700,000 EUR from Last Mile Initiative (in addition to EUR 18 m core funding)
- Contact: claudia.aguirre@giz.de