Health partners will use a door to door vaccination strategy to ensure children in remote areas receive the measles-rubella doses.
The Ministry of Health in partnership with Unicef and Gavi are conducting a 10-day vaccination campaign in the seven high-risk counties of Mandera, Wajir, Garissa, Turkana, West Pokot and Marsabit.
Despite efforts by partners to ensure that at least 95 per cent of measles vaccine coverage is as per the World Health Organization recommendation, factors such as vaccine hesitancy have continued to hamper uptake in some communities.
This has left millions of children exposed and at risk of getting the disease.
According to Unicef Kenya Ag representative Anselme Motcho, children in the seven counties will be vaccinated through existing healthcare facilities such as health centres and hospitals, as well as other facilities such as schools and churches and via mobile outreach teams.
“In some hard-to-reach communities and areas with potential vaccine hesitancy, we will go door to door. Community health workers and local leaders will be engaged to identify and track missed children,” Motcho said.
“In partnership with Gavi, we are also supporting the planning, training and operational costs for the campaign and will be working with the local communities and religious leaders to raise awareness about measles-rubella vaccination."
The exercise seeks to reach at least 1.2 million children aged between 9 and 59 months with the lifesaving vaccine.
Only 86 per cent of children in Kenya have received one measles-rubella vaccine which means that nearly one in seven children in Kenya have not received their first dose.
Similarly, only 58 per cent of Kenya’s children have received two doses of the measles-rubella vaccine which means that nearly half of all children in Kenya have not received the second dose which is needed to ensure long-lasting protection from measles.
