Section 1: Vignette

Delphine is the wife of a farmer in rural Cameroon. Before the birth of her sixth child, government workers came to her village and built a primary healthcare center (PHC). Delphine would bring her children to the PHC for their shots and when they were sick. At first, the doctors came to the village frequently to work at the PHC, but as time went on, their visits became less frequent. When Delphine's seventh child was six weeks old, a health worker came to the village to immunize her baby. She was advised to return to the PHC in a month for the second vaccine. Delphine waited and waited but the government worker did not return to administer the second vaccination. Her baby, like other babies in the village, never received complete doses of vaccines. When there was an outbreak of yellow fever, many villagers became ill and Delphine's seventh child was among the first to get ill.