Kenya’s Ministry of Health, on Wednesday, launched a 10-day measles and rubella vaccination campaign in the 22 high-risk counties.
The exercise is aimed at reducing the spike in the number of unvaccinated children.
Mercy Mwangangi, Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Health said that the campaign would run from June 26 to July 5, targeting to reach about 3.5 million children below five years.
A risk assessment, conducted in the country with the support of the World Health Organisation, identified 22 counties as being at very high risk for measles outbreaks.
Rudi Eggers, WHO representative in Kenya, said that in spite of the good progress made so far, Kenya has continued to experience measles outbreaks since the last nationwide measles-rubella vaccination in 2016.
Measles is a common cause of deaths among children from vaccine-preventable diseases.
Rubella, like measles, is a highly infectious viral disease that can cause serious health complications to newborns such as birth defects, heart problems, loss of hearing and eyesight as well as brain damage.
(Xinhua/NAN)
