Kitui County Health and Sanitation Ministry has held a campaign of stakeholders’ novel oral polio vaccination training.
Speaking during the training at the Kitui County Referral Hospital boardroom, the Health Promotion Officer Beatrice Charles emphasized the importance of polio surveillance.
The training aimed to prepare for the second round of polio immunization in the region and was organized in collaboration with WHO, Kenya’s Health Ministry, UNOPS, UNICEF, Polio Global Eradication Initiative, UN Refugee Agency, and CDC.
Beatrice highlighted the dual purpose of polio surveillance, emphasizing its role in identifying new cases and detecting the presence of either the wild polio virus or vaccine-derived polio virus.
She highlighted that the event focused on the significance of surveillance in determining the virus’s circulation, guiding responses, and verifying eradication efforts in the wake of the outbreak.
“The successful administration of the polio vaccine during the first round (October 7 to 11, 2023) in Kitui County achieved notable success, reaching 101% coverage (196,128 children) against a target of 194,187 children,” Beatrice stated.
She further noted that this was a crucial step in preventing paralysis and death in children.
Additionally, Beatrice stated that an ongoing sero-survey of polio antibodies and the quality of acute flaccid paralysis is exclusive to Kitui and Tana River Counties among Kenya’s 47 counties.
“The Ministry of Health has outlined three polio campaigns in high-risk counties, including Nairobi, Kiambu, Kajiado, Garissa, Kitui, Machakos, Tana River, Lamu, Mandera, and Wajir, scheduled for August, October, and November 2023,” she stated.
Charles further stressed the importance of public awareness campaigns in achieving polio eradication, underlining the severity of the disease caused by the polio virus, which enters the body through contaminated water and food.
The training session provided updates on the regional and national status of the ongoing polio outbreak, outlined implementation strategies, and emphasized the need to enhance acute flaccid paralysis surveillance post-campaign.
Alice Ngesa, also from Kitui County Health and Sanitation Ministry, played a vital role in contributing to the training, ensuring participants were well-informed.
By Boniface Mulu
Get more stories from our website: Education News
To write to us or offer feedback, you can reach us at: editor@educationnews.co.ke
You can also follow our social media pages on Twitter: Education News KE and Facebook: Education News Newspaper for timely updates.
>>> Click here to stay up-to-date with trending regional stories
