Beyond Zero mobile clinics to aid immunization in counties, says First Lady Margaret Kenyatta

Kenya: Mobile clinics that will be bought for counties by First Lady Margaret Kenyatta’s Beyond Zero campaign will play a major role in increasing immunization to protect children against polio and other killer diseases. The Beyond Zero campaign plans to buy a mobile clinic for each of the 47 counties beginning with the most vulnerable. She said the scaled up immunization across the board will enable the most vulnerable children to live beyond the age of five. She added, “The mobile clinics that we set up in the 47 counties for the ‘Beyond Zero’ campaign will be a significant factor in providing the routine immunization.” The First Lady spoke on Friday night during a dinner to celebrate the golden jubilee of Rotary Club of Nairobi South at a Nairobi hotel. She said through provision of access to medical clinics, trained personnel and medication, mortality rates among women and children will be minimized in the country. The First Lady thanked Kenyans for supporting the ‘Beyond Zero’ initiative through donations in cash and kind, adding ‘It is clear that we all have a stake in this initiative and solutions are at hand’. She said the Rotary’s campaign to eradicate polio from the face of the earth by 2018 was in tandem with the ‘Beyond Zero’ campaign that aims at catalyzing Government, individuals, private and international organizations to reduce Kenya’s high maternal and child mortality. Eradicating polio ‘will bring us all closer to our goal of ensuring that our children live beyond the age of 5’, she said. The main problem standing in the way of ending polio in the world, she said, is the low levels of routine immunization in high risk areas coupled with low density of medical facilities in hardship areas, security concerns and a misunderstanding of the intentions of the polio eradication initiative”. She acknowledged the impressive achievement made by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners to reduce new polio cases worldwide from 300,000 in 1985 to only 84 this year. “There is less than one percent to go, and if you get Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan off the polio endemic countries list, you will be on the last leg of the run,” the First Lady said. The First Lady was inducted to the Rotary club of Nairobi South as an honorary member. She and other Rotarians were later treated to a colourful fashion show. Rotary District D9212 Governor Harry Mugo assured the First Lady that the society fully supports her pet project, ‘Beyond Zero’ campaign that aims at improving access to maternal and child health outreach services throughout the country. District D9212 covers Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Sudan.