Health
KENYA, on Tuesday, recorded progress in malaria elimination due to the adoption of a vaccine, treated nets in households and improved management of the disease.
The acting Director-General of the Ministry of Health, John Wekesa, said that the usage of the malaria vaccine had boosted the fight against the disease responsible for many deaths among women and children in Africa.
“We remain committed to ensuring the highest possible quality of health is guaranteed to our population through eradication of killer diseases like malaria.
“The malaria vaccine known as RTS,S was launched in the western Kenyan county of Homa Bay by the Ministry of Health and WHO on Sept. 13,’’ Wekesa said.
According to a WHO report released recently, malaria vaccine has seen a drastic reduction among the children succumbing to the disease.
Wekesa said that Kenya would scale up investment in malaria prevention and treatment programmes targeting high burden counties in western parts of the country and the coastal region.
According to the official, the Kenyan Government has been piloting Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in four counties and targets to scale up nationally within two years.
“Within the lessons learned from this pilot from early 2020, we will scale up UHC nationally and have ambitious targets to reach 100 per cent coverage,’’ Wekesa said. (Xinhua/NAN)
– Dec. 17, 2019 @ 11:32 GMT
Tags: Kenya records progress in malaria elimination
