•It is a Public Private Partnership implemented by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the CDC and the Health Ministry.
•Data from the ministry shows that only 20 per cent of healthcare workers who had an accidental needle prick injuries were vaccinated for hepatitis B.
Image: MAGDALINE SAYA
Three thousand healthcare workers in nine counties will be vaccinated over three years against the hepatitis B virus that causes serious liver infections.
The counties are Nyeri, Nairobi, Kiambu, Embu, Meru, Nakuru, Kisumu, Trans Nzoia and Mombasa which have hepatitis B virus (HBV) prevalence ranging from 0,7 per cent to 6.3 per cent.
The vaccination progamme will cost Sh194 million.
Hepatitis B is a potentially life-threatening liver infection that is vaccine preventable.
The immunisation is a Public Private Partnership implemented by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the US Center for Disease Control and the Health ministry.
Through the Kenya Infection Prevention and Control Global Collaboration for Advancement (KINGA) project, the aim is to improve infusion safety by reducing infusion related complications and needle prick injuries.
Needle prick injuries are wounds caused by needles that accidentally puncture the skin. They can occur whenever people use, disassemble or dispose of needles.
Ministry data show only 20 per cent of healthcare workers who had a needle pricks were vaccinated for hepatitis B.
Hepatitis B prevalence in Kenya is relatively high, estimated at five to eight per cent, and health workers are at high risk.
“Lessons learnt during the Covid-19 pandemic make infection prevention and control an obligation, the basis of informed quality patient care, as well as healthcare workers safety, a high priority issue for the health sector,” Health CAS Mercy Mwangangi said.
“The cost of care is rising daily, and while it is not only financial, the psychological and socio-economic implications are of great concern to the patients and health systems,” she added.
Hepatitis B is spread by infected blood, semen or other bodily fluids.
This can happen through sexual contact, sharing of needles, syringes or other drug injection equipment or from mother to baby at birth.
Symptoms can include fatigue, poor appetite, stomach pain, nausea and jaundice. For many the disease is a short term illness but for others it can become a long term chronic infection that can lead to serious, even life threatening issues like cirrhosis or liver cancer.
The partnership will train on safe clinical practices for Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) including phlebotomy, injection and infusion, specimen handling practices, improved needle prick prevention programmes and improving national surveillance of needle prick injuries and provision of appropriate post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
This will include pre-testing reagents, hepatitis B vaccines, immunisation cards and establishment of a healthcare worker immunisation database.
In addition to the 7,000 healthcare workers previously trained, another 10,000 healthcare workers will be trained on infusion safety.
Commodities supporting one million infusion procedures will be availed to the facilities through the project.
The partnership was implemented in Kenya between 2010 and 2015 to strengthen blood collection practices in the country.
During this period serious gaps in healthcare workers and patients' safety were identified prompting an extension of the programme. As a result, the KINGA project was established.
(Edited by V. Graham)