The Kenyan ministry of Health is launching the free anti-pneumonia vaccinations in public hospitals in February which will save the country 80,000 hospital admissions annually and could save as many as 9,000 lives nationwide.
The pneumococcal vaccine, which costs $185 for three sessions in the private sector, will be given free to all children in public hospitals and clinics from February 14.
Statistics from the World Health Organisation show that in 2008, about nine million children under the age of five died and that 40 per cent of these deaths were due to pneumonia and diarrhoea alone.
The vaccine will be provided through the Global Alliance for vaccines and immunisation, which is partly funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. ChildCount+ will be used to track the vaccination of children and help ensure that the regimen is properly spaced to provide effective vaccination in the Sauri and Dertu Millennium Villages Cluster. Childcount+ tracks the time between the sessions and also that each child has received all three shots for maximum vaccine effectiveness.
WHO country representative Abdoulie Jack said that much effort still needed to be put in curbing the number one killer of under fives in developing countries.
“Pneumonia and diarrhoea contribute 20 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, or 39,760 children’s deaths in Kenya.
“This means approximately four out of every 10 children are dying as a result of the two conditions which are largely preventable, said Dr Jack.
*Much of this blog post is directly quoted from the press release from the Kenyan Ministry of Health
Recent Comments