Kenya News

April 24, 2017: The announcement of the piloting of a malaria vaccine in Africa by the WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshido Moeti this week marks a historic but realistic moment towards the effort to ease the malaria disease burden and save lives in Africa.

Dr Moeti presided over the high level malaria event in Nairobi ahead of World Malaria Day, where she announced the selection of three countries, Kenya, Malawi and Ghana, for the vaccine pilot testing.

In 2013, Kenya’s Ministry of Health was faced with a debate over the alarming rate of women dying in childbirth: was the cause deep-rooted cultural values, or could lives be saved with policy interventions?

The launch for the Polio Second Round campaign in Kenya kicked off this weekend with a passionate appeal to parents and care-givers to open their doors for Polio teams so children could be vaccinated.

The campaign targets 11 counties most at risk including  Migori, Garissa, Wajir, Turkana, Marsabit, Tana River, Lamu, Mandera, Narok, Homa Bay and Siaya

22 March 2017: WHO has donated 15 ambulances to support reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health (RMNCAH) in six counties, Migori, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo and Lamu. WHO is among six UN agencies (UN H6) supporting these counties through an initiative of the UN RMNCH Trust Fund. The objective of the initiative is to strengthen health services for reduction the of maternal and child mortality, in line with the SDG3 targets. The other agencies in the partnership are, UNICEF, UNFPA, UN Women, UNAIDS, and World Bank.

Nairobi, June 2016 - Kenya launched the second Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) Master Plan 2016 - 2020 on 15 June 2016. Present at the launch were senior government officials, representatives of Non -Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the UN, academia, research institutes, Civil Society,  the media, people affected by NTDs  and several other  stakeholders collaborating with the Kenyan government to combat the NTDs in Kenya. 

The 13th Horn of Africa Technical Advisory Group meeting on polio has ended with a call for the affected countries to close gaps in surveillance sensitivity in high risk areas, improvement of routine immunization, population immunity and end to continued undetected low level polio transmission.

The TAG met in Nairobi August 17-20 to look at country situations, preparedness plans and standards in surveillance, Routine immunization and eradication of the Wild Polio Virus (WPV) and Circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (cVDPV).

Nairobi, March 7, 2017 - The African Health Agenda International Conference, AHAIC, in Nairobi set off to an enthused start with calls for realistic and holistic solutions that are informed by research and evidence, strengthening of health systems, commitment of governments through financing of health and engagement  of youth and other actors to address the disease burden in the continent.

airobi, May 16, 2016 - Kenya has rolled out a massive nation-wide Measles-Rubella campaign which targets almost half the population. The campaign which runs from May 16-24 will cover all the 47 counties and target 19,922,722 children between 9 months and 14 years. The rubella component will be offered in public health facilities for the first time but will be offered as one vaccine with measles. In addition, 11 targeted counties will offer tetanus vaccination for girls and women aged 15-49. These are counties more at risk and with low immunization coverage.

23 May 2015, Nairobi, Kenya - Health experts, leaders and county managers have this week, called for a concerted effort to end the cholera outbreak at once and save the lives of Kenyans.

A stakeholders meeting called by the national government to evaluate and find solutions to the cholera outbreak in the country noted the disease had affected 11 counties, led to loss of life and needed quick action to arrest the outbreak.

A communique was signed at the end of the deliberations to stop cholera in the next 30 days as part of the government rapid response initiatives (RRI).

An intergovernmental immunization forum ended in Machakos, Kenya last week with a great promise for collaboration between the national health ministry and counties and with the support from partners.

The two-day meeting brought together about 200 health personnel from all 47 counties, the national office  and partners who included WHO, UNICEF, Clinton Foundation, Maternal and  Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP), Health NGO’s Network  (Hennet), Population Services Kenya, Kenya Aids NGOs Consortium, (KANCO) and others.