The Ministry of Health has instructed Community Health Promoters (CHPs) to track and bring onto the immunisation centres about 40,000 children who miss out on vaccination every year.

This is part of the World Health Organisation’s campaign of leaving no child behind, where the number of children missing out on any vaccination – so-called zero-dose children.

In Kenya, eight out of 10 children under the age of two years are fully vaccinated with basic childhood vaccines, and 98 per cent have had at least one vaccine.

However, two to three per cent of the population, about 1.5 million live births have never received any vaccine at all.

Subsequently, yesterday, the Ministry of Health and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) flagged off 2,061 cold chain equipment to health facilities, to ramp up immunisation, especially in deprived communities across the country.

“Investing in a high-quality cold chain system ensures the vaccines that reach our communities and children are effective upon administration and our children continue to be protected from vaccine preventable diseases,” Health Cabinet Secretary Susan Nakhumicha said during the flag off flanked by to UNICEF Kenya Country Representative Shaheen Nilofer.

Nakhumicha (pictured) said a functional cold chain system is a vital component of the immunisation supply chain process, emphasising that immunisation is the foundation of saving millions of lives every year.

The CS said having such a cold chain system ensures vaccines are kept at just the right temperature during the long journey from the manufacturing line to the syringe.

The equipment valued at Sh1 billion is part of the Cold Chain Equipment Optimisation Programme (CCEOP) grant from Gavi, the global Vaccine Alliance.

In October 2023, UNICEF started distributing vaccines in Kenya, but the El Nino rains in most parts of the country late last year slowed down the programme, which now has gathered momentum according to the CS.

“That’s what we are trying to use the CHPs to ensure we leave no child behind,” Nakhumicha said.
She also hinted that Kenya, one of the three pilot countries, will have its own bio-medical engineers install and commission the Cold Chain Equipment Optimization Program (CCEOP) equipment in two phases.

The CCEOP project has facilitated the procurement of modern and efficient cold chain equipment and remote temperature monitoring tech, benefiting the immunisation supply chain.