Number of fully immunised children reduces in April
The proportion of children under one year fully immunised reduced significantly by 40 per cent in April compared to March 2020 as the Coronavirus pandemic persists, county governments have reported.
Council of Governors (COG) Chairman, Wycliffe Oparanya said yesterday the decline means that the number of children who acquire vaccine-preventable diseases with associated deaths will increase if the situation does not change.
Partly, Oparanya who is the Kakamega Governor, attributed the situation to reduction of mothers visiting health facilities in the last two months, while on one hand; he said delay in disbursement of the remaining funds to the counties in the Financial Year 2019/20 to enhance service delivery is to blame.
“Routine essential services data shows significant reduction in performance of essential services across indicators.
“The lack of disbursement of funds in the counties also; and for the health workers, which in effect has caused low morale in executing their duties among other arising issues,” he said.
Similar challenges in the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) have been reported in the counties with the rate of prevention declining by 31 per cent within the same period.
During the same period, according to Oparanya the proportion of targetted pregnant women provided with Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLITNs) also dropped by 10 percent.
This, he said has exposed expectant mothers to Malaria during this rainy season when the incidence is normally high.
“Whereas counties are making strides towards combating the pandemic, we are experiencing other challenges that need to be addressed urgently,” he said.
