Immunisation should be given more attention

Kenya's health sector must focus on immunisation campaigns to protect children from the growing risk of contracting resurgent diseases.

The threat of resurgence of lethal childhood diseases such as pneumonia, measles, diarrhoea, whooping cough, tuberculosis, meningitis and polio has become real in the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, as global health systems have shifted focus to fighting the virus at the expense of other critical vaccines. As a result of the pandemic, healthcare systems were overburdened and immunisation campaigns did not reach the people who needed them.

Immunisation is undeniably one of the most successful and cost-effective health interventions in the world. Indeed, according to WHO, immunisation prevents between two and three million deaths each year and reduce morbidity and mortality in a cost-effective manner.

Immunisation protects children and adults from vaccine-preventable diseases, preventing debilitating illness, disability, and death. When combined with other health interventions such as vitamin A supplementation to boost children's immune systems, deworming medicine, growth monitoring, and the distribution of insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria, immunisation becomes a major force for child survival.

Furthermore, the benefits of immunisation are being extended to adolescents and adults, providing protection against life-threatening diseases such as influenza, meningitis, and adult cancers. Vaccines also provide benefits other than improved health outcomes such as lower medical costs and less time spent by parents and health care workers caring for sick children. 

As a result, we should not let down our guard. There are three ways we can increase vaccine penetration and reach the unreached. To begin, we must improve education and communication about the benefits of vaccinations to the target populations. There is need to reassure mothers, for example, that hospitals and clinics are safe to visit and will not expose them to the risks of contracting Covid-19. These education campaigns can be carried out in collaboration with community leaders, government and non-government organisations, religious institutions and community radio stations.

The second intervention involves the establishment of fixed immunisation clinics in low-income areas to bring services closer to those who need them the most. The availability of these facilities should then be accompanied by a public awareness campaign about their existence and significance, so that they do not become mere monuments. Third, all stakeholders must consider establishing mobile immunisation clinics, particularly in the most marginalised communities, to ensure that they are not left behind.

Finally, it is critical to recognise that as tomorrow's leaders, children's ability to protect the future for us all is dependent on what we do today to secure their rights. We cannot afford to drop the ball.

Dr Ngwiri is paediatrician and Head of Clinical Services, Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital