UNICEF has expressed concern over the declining uptake of childhood vaccines in several countries
NAIROBI, April 26 (NNN-KBC) — Kenya is gearing up to celebrate World Immunization Week Wednesday.
Health CS Susan Nakumincha will on Wednesday morning officiate a high-level meeting bringing together experts at a Nairobi hotel.
County Executive Committee Members for Health and technical officers from all counties, partners, and stakeholders will converge to deliberate and make commitments towards improvement of immunization coverage in their jurisdiction.
The World Immunization Week celebrated in the last week of April, aims to highlight the collective action needed to protect people from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Under the theme of ‘The Big Catch-Up,’ WHO has recommended that countries accelerate rapid progress to get back on track to ensure more people, particularly children, are protected from preventable diseases.
It comes in the wake of growing concerns over lost progress in essential immunization since the pandemic.
“It is important that we all take action and encourage our friends, family, and community members to catch up on any missed vaccinations” the Ministry of Health advises.
Last week UNICEF released a report expressing concern over the declining uptake of childhood vaccines in several countries since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The organisation which is the largest provider of vaccines attributes the service disruption to strained health systems, diversion of scarce resources, conflict, fragility, and decreased confidence.
The State of the World’s Children 2023 report shows 67 million children missed vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, with vaccination coverage levels decreasing in 112 countries.
As of the end of 2021, India and Nigeria (both countries with very large birth cohorts) had the largest numbers of zero-dose children but increases in the numbers of zero-dose children were especially notable in Myanmar and the Philippines. — NNN-KBC
