Lodwar- November 28, 2025 (Public Communication and Media Relations)
The Department of Health and Sanitation has trained over 40 Sub-County Health Vaccine Depot Managers on vaccine management in ongoing measures to ensure Turkana is free from vaccine-preventable diseases through increased vaccination coverage.
Facilitated by the County Government of Turkana and supported by the National Vaccination Program on Immunization and UNOPS, this training sought to equip sub-county health management teams with Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) knowledge to ensure vaccine potency, maximize coverage rates, prevent stockouts, wastage, and ultimately reduce morbidity and mortality in alignment with the NVPI.
Speaking at the meeting, Acting Director for Preventive and Promotive Health Services, Lucas Edete stressed the need for this team to assess areas of improvement so as to increase the uptake of vaccines in Turkana.
“Let us identify areas that have low vaccination and factors contributing to it, so we can improve on our numbers,” he said.
He, also mentioned the need to optimize the utilization of mobilised resources from strategic collaborations, terming it as a key drive towards enhancing health activities on immunization across the county.
The County EPI Coordinator Daniel Erus revealed that Turkana County has achieved a major improvement on vaccination coverage through enhanced strategies, ensuring maximum immunisation coverage.
“The County Government has improved healthcare facilities from 130 to 230 that are enabled to carry immunisation programs across the county,” he said.
The County Health Records and Information Director, Peter Etee mentioned that through this training, the sub-county healthcare team will be able to promote data-driven decision-making so as to leverage immunization goals across the county.
The Director, Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Plan (KISEDP), Godfrey Akolong’ emphasized the need to extend such opportunities to private clinic owners who are actively providing immunization services. “Strengthening their capacity is equally essential to safeguarding quality, safety, and consistency across the whole service delivery landscape,”
The Aroo Sub-County Medical Officer of Health Veronica Ereng termed the training as a pathway to determine the accurate vaccine potency and provide updates on cold-chain equipment at sub-county level.
In attendance were County and Sub-county Health Management Teams, Medical Officers of Health and EPI Depot Managers from different sub-counties.
