Kenya: Alert that children lack vaccines due to strikes by health workers

A protracted health worker strike last year cost the country gains in immunization coverage, exposing children less than a year old to polio, pneumonia and tuberculosis

. The ministry said that last year, out of 864,619 registered births in the country, only 65% ​​of children have benefited from complete immunization, of which 76% per year. According to the 2018 economic survey, vaccination coverage decreased from 1,101,279 (69%) in 2016 to 1,014,894 vaccinated children (69% of children vaccinated against tuberculosis, BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin )

63%) in 2017.

The 2017 figure is the lowest since 2005, when it was at the same level.

Detection of polio slows down years of hard work

Immunisati Nyandarua's director of health services, Kariuki Gichuki, said the number of unimmunized children in the county and in the United States is the largest. the whole country had "

" This predisposes the county and the country to epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases. It is easier and cheaper to vaccinate children than to treat them, "said Dr. Kariuki

who gave the example of measles treatment, saying that the budget was enough to vaccinate about 100 children.

The worst vaccination rate was recorded last June, when the nurses' strike began, registering 46% coverage, forcing the department to offer accident vaccine services after the four-week strike. month. The facilities shut down last year when nurses went on strike for 152 days between June and November 2012. The strike movement followed the doctors' strike that began on December 5, 2016, and went on strike. is completed on March 14, 2017.

As a result, nearly 500,000 children have not been vaccinated against some of the world's most debilitating diseases such as polio, pneumonia, meningitis, measles, influenza and hepatitis

. Data from the Vaccines and Immunization Division and the District Health Information System indicate that last year, the majority of counties did not reach their vaccine coverage target. in the provision of Penta 1 and Penta 3 (Pentavalent) vaccinations, which are given to children to protect them against multiple diseases.

Pentavalent is a mandatory vaccine introduced in 2002 for all children. It is administered in three doses to protect a child from five life-threatening diseases: diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B and haemophilus influenzae type b. Mandera County was trailing at a coverage of 30 and 35% in the Penta 1 and Penta 3 covers, respectively. Kiambu led 100% at Penta-3

CREATING AN AWARENESS

Other routine vaccines subsequently introduced included PCV 10 in 2011, the second dose in 2013, Rota Virus in 2014, the polio vaccinated vaccine in 2015, while in 2016 In Nyandarua County, measles vaccine coverage increased from 15,429 in 2014 to 12,248 in 2017.

According to Dr. Kariuki, measles vaccine is pbaded from measles to rubella. , the statistics are a wake-up call to all to sensitize vigorously and reach the immunized children.

"The body has its own immune system, the importance of routine vaccination is that it helps the body to produce antibodies, which prepare it to fight against preventable diseases,

To alleviate the problem in the county, the Ministry of Health uses mobile phone alerts sent to mothers one day before the date of vaccination

PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES PERMANENT

do is to document the mobile phone numbers of mothers to the Delivery and then computerize the due dates for an automatically generated alert, "said Dr. Kariuki

Ms. Jane Njeri, a community health educator, says that some of the immunizable diseases do not heal while d & # 39; 39, others

"Some preventable diseases such as tuberculosis are expensive and time-consuming, and diarrhea is also a big challenge for our children, but is also immune, "said the health educator, advising parents to adhere to the mother-child booklet, which contains information on pregnancy, delivery and postpartum, vaccination, nutrition. and other data to monitor the child.