Government and health development partners will today launch the second round of Mother and Child health week in Kambia District.
According to health officials, the effort is part of Government’s initiative to prevent vaccine preventable diseases, maintain polio eradication and achieve measles elimination in the country.
Situated in the northern part of Sierra Leone, Kambia borders with Guinea and because of the many other illegal entry points, Kambia has always been at risk in the event there is an outbreak of a disease.
This was the reason why Government decided to kick-off the campaign in Kambia, which will last for five days in all parts of the country.
The Programme Manager, Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), Dr Dennis Marke disclosed that the November MCH Week will be conducted in conjunction with an integrated follow-up measles second dose to improve access to essential maternal and child health services.
During this period, he said routine vaccines will be administered to defaulters up to 23 months of age; vitamin A capsules and deworming tablets will be provided in addition to measles vaccine for all – 0-59 months old.
Dr Marke also broke the good news of referral of pregnant women to health facilities for a more focused antenatal care services, which is a campaign by Government and health partners to provide basic services and to regain public confidence in the health service delivery system.
The focus of the MCH Week is to reach as many children as possible and provide another opportunity for reaching missed children as an effort aimed at complementing the facility based health service delivery.
Dr Dennis Marke commended health development partners for assisting Government to make the second rounds of MCH Week a reality, especially UNICEF for procuring the vaccines and the distribution to various health facilities around the country.
Because vaccines are to be kept at an optimum temperature, he noted that the World Health Organization provided the ministry with fridges as well as cold chain boxes which will assist health workers during the campaign, especially in hard to reach communities.
By Ade Campbell
Thursday November 26, 2015
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