Zimbabwe's crumbling health sector has received a boost with the launch of a week-long campaign called Child Health Days (CHDs), delivering a polio vaccine, vitamin A supplementation and basic childhood immunisation to two million children.

"The majority of people that are going to benefit from such programmes are ordinary people who can no longer afford to pay the health fees," said Itai Rusike, Executive Director of the Community Working Group on Health, a network of civic and community-based organisations.

Health services have been hit hard by the economic meltdown, and Dadirai Mutongomani, a mother in the capital, Harare, said the campaign was a relief as the cost of healthcare was now beyond her reach.

The CHDs are coordinated by the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, in partnership with the UN Children's Fund, (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation and Helen Keller International, a global non-profit organisation focusing on preventable blindness, malnutrition and poverty.

As a result of the decades-long partnership between the four agencies, Zimbabwe has not reported a single case of polio since 1990, while reported cases of suspected measles have dropped by 84 percent since 2004.

Now in their third consecutive year, the CHDs have played a significant role in raising immunisation rates, reducing measles and boosting child survival efforts.

"On the back of the health campaigns, immunisation coverage for children under five has increased to more than 80 percent [from below 60 percent in 2001] for all childhood vaccinations and Vitamin A supplementation, and no cases of whooping cough have been reported in the last two years," said UNICEF spokesman James Elder.

Festo Kavishe, UNICEF Representative in Zimbabwe, commented in a statement, "Zimbabwe is winning the war against measles and polio - measles vaccination is at 90 percent and not a single case of polio has been reported in 18 years - but the new polio cases around Africa necessitate that we remain vigilant."

He added: "At the same time, Child Health Days are a critical boost to health services that are under great stress, as CHDs have dramatically increased coverage of immunisation for Zimbabwe's children."