Over 125,000 children in Turkana County are set to be immunized against polio in two phases of immunization campaign that kicks off next month. Turkana Central Public health officer Mr. Innocent Sifuna Who chaired the meeting for the stakeholders said that some 127,752 children in the county are targeted for the mass polio immunization campaign that will start on June 9-13 and July 7-11 in 86 districts in the country. The Meeting which was held at Lodwar District Hospital DPH office brought together 8 stakeholders from UNICEF, merlin, DOL, World Vision, practical Action, Ministry of education , information and the host public health. The campaign is a part of a nationwide campaign that targets to have 2,249,106 children immunized against the paralyzing disease. The exercise will be conducted in the six districts that make up Turkana County. The targeted children are will be immunized in their districts. Reports indicate that in Loima 18,761, Turkana central 21,063, Turkana East 12,448, Turkana North 13,897, Turkana South 19,598 and Turkana West 41,985children are targeted. Sifuna said the United Nations Child fund (UNICEF) has formed a communications working group to “actively seek and leverage opportunities to provide information about immunization and health.”The technical group also seeks to liaise with Early Childhood Development Centers (ECD) to maximize opportunities for routine immunization in schools. Lack of access to information about dangers of polio and other childhood diseases has been cited as a major impediment to the fight against these preventable diseases. The government ministries among them Public health and Sanitation, Education, Information and communications have teamed up with the UNICEF led team that also includes Non –governmental organizations to fight the polio menace.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment