Lodwar – 24th September 2024 (Public Communications and Media Relations)
Turkana County has joined seven other counties in preparing for a mass polio vaccination campaign, scheduled to commence from October 2nd to 6th which targets all children aged 10 years and below.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a single case is sufficient to declare an outbreak. The first case was detected in Kakuma, Turkana West Sub-county, on July 19th, 2024, prompting the National Ministry of Health to declare a polio outbreak, and plan the mass vaccination campaign.
The last polio campaign in the county was conducted in 2009, when 19 cases were detected. This year, three additional cases have been confirmed from 21 samples tested after the initial July case.
The county aims to vaccinate 424,574 children, with an expectation to achieve above 95% of the target population.
A total of 783 vaccinating teams, comprising a vaccinator and volunteer (community health promoter), will be deployed across the entire county, including the Kakuma Refugee camp and Kalobeyei Settlement schemes.
While opening a three-day training session for the sub-county health management teams, Director of Preventive and Promotive, Alfred Emanman, urged the teams to strive to achieve 100% of the target population.
“For the sub-county health management teams, when cascading the training, ensure you pass the correct information to the vaccination teams,” he said.
He also called for partner support to cover border areas, where populations are highly mobile and often face insecurity.
The WHO Kenya officer, Dr David Rotich, praised the county’s robust surveillance, which helped detect the virus in infected children. However, he noted that the current polio cases indicate gaps in routine immunization.
He stressed the importance of reinforcing routine immunization and incorporating surveillance training for vaccinating teams.
The second round of the campaign will take place from November 2nd to 6th.
Partner organizations involved include WHO Kenya, UNICEF Kenya, Kenya Red Cross Society, Core Group Partners’ Project and the International Rescue Committee – Lodwar and Kakuma offices.
