Africa 24 Media Photography

Every minute, a child dies of measles or other diseases which can easily be prevented through proper and routine immunization. It is estimated that nearly 1 million children die each year to measles world-wide, with 450,000 being from Africa alone.

The Kenyan government in conjunction with humanitarian organizations like Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) have come out strong to make a difference in children’s’ health by running various vaccination programmes in schools and residential areas. This is part of an ambitious but much-needed campaign to completely kick out diseases like measles, polio, and mumps out of the country. The campaign involves touring different schools and administering the relevant vaccines to children. This routine immunization programme has helped protect most of children from a number of infectious diseases that previously claimed thousands of lives each year. But even as the Kenyan government and willing Non-Governmental Organisations continue to fight against measles and other diseases, poor immunization coverage, existing drought, and high rate of malnutrition among children has slowed down the process. Illiteracy and laxity among parents to take their children for immunization against the disease has also played a part in derailing the noble course.

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