Abdourahmane Diallo, WHO country representative in Kenya, makes his remarks during the launch of the Malaria Behavior Survey 2022 in Nairobi on April 19, 2023. (Photo by Charles Onyango/Xinhua)
Kenya's Ministry of Health said it had stepped up vaccination targeting vulnerable groups like children and women in order to reduce deaths linked to infectious and non-communicable diseases.
NAIROBI, April 27 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Ministry of Health said on Wednesday that it had stepped up vaccination targeting vulnerable groups like children and women in order to reduce deaths linked to infectious and non-communicable diseases.
Susan Nakhumicha, cabinet secretary in the Ministry of Health, said during the launch of World Immunization Week in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, that there are plans to upscale routine immunization coverage to 100 percent, up from the current 80 percent.
"We must therefore put all our efforts together in reaching the last child; no one should be left behind," she said while clarifying that national immunization programs were resilient despite some headwinds facing the public health sector.
The file photo shows parents taking their children for vaccination against measles and rubella viruses at Githogoro settlement in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, on June 26, 2021. (Photo by Joy Nabukewa/Xinhua)
Nakhumicha stressed that the country has seen an overall improvement in vaccination coverage, noting that the goal was to ensure all newborn children were inoculated against killer ailments like tuberculosis and malaria.
She said the government has invested in supportive infrastructure like cold chain facilities, capacity building of health workers, and public outreach campaigns to help realize universal immunization coverage. Kenya's health personnel have been encouraged to scale up vaccination campaigns targeting the elderly and citizens living with co-morbidities amid their vulnerability to fatal ailments.
She stressed that this year's national immunization week presents an opportunity to re-energize efforts to inoculate all infants, noting that adolescent girls who have received the vaccine against cervical cancer have recorded improved health outcomes.
Nakhumicha also said the government has intensified vaccination to help contain recurrent measles outbreaks in the country, and the provision of the second dose of measles vaccine targeting children is in the works. ■
