Drive to encourage immunisation of children under five

Your child may soon be required to have a certificate indicating they have been immunised against various conditions before enrolling in kindergartens.

The campaign, spearheaded by Health and Education ministries, is meant to enhance health of children through immunisation.

One of the conditions targeted by the campaign, according to the Director of Medical Services at the ministry of Health Jackson Kioko, is polio.

Yesterday, Dr Kioko directed all counties to examine cases of paralysis among children below 15 to determine if they are caused by polio virus.

He said these interventions are aimed at ensuring the country is polio free by 2019.

Developing policy

“Together with the ministry of Education, we are developing a policy to ensure children below the age of five joining kindergarten have an immunisation certificate,” said Kioko.

Kenya has been polio free since 2013. This was to be certified by the end of the year if no case was detected.

But discovery of the virus detected in a sewage in Kamkunji, Nairobi on March 21, which the ministry described as an isolated case, is a major setback to efforts to have Kenya declared polio free.

A door-to-door vaccination campaign was put in place immediately to immunise 817,782 children under under five in Nairobi against polio.

In 2013, the case of polio reported in the country was detected at the Kenya-Somalia border. It was attributed to the movement of refugees.

“It will also be a requirement for children, below the age of 15, joining refugee camps to be screened and administered with the oral vaccine,” said Kioko.

He said all the 47 counties have been ordered to increase surveillance to ensure the polio virus in put at bay.

A recent assessment has has indicated that 12 counties face a higher risk of the polio virus.