Health CS Mutahi Kagwe. [Photo: Ministry of Health]
The Ministry of Health has identified eight counties that have been targeted in the ongoing malaria campaign.
The Counties are Homa Bay, Kisumu, Migori, Siaya, Busia, Bungoma, Vihiga, and Kakamega.
The head of the malaria program Dr. George Githuka says that the 100 percent elimination of Malaria cases in these counties require strong surveillance structures.
“When we start with these counties, we shall be improving with more and more counties as we scale up our intervention activities so as to ensure that we eliminate Malaria by the year 2030,” he said.
The Government says it is working towards having in place, robust structures by 2023 with close collaboration with county governments for the eradication program to be a success.
It is targeting to reduce malaria cases and deaths in Kenya by 75 percent by 2023.
This comes as the state works on several intervention measures to reduce the mortality rates in the country.
Recently it launched the RTS, S/AS01 vaccine to bolster efforts to combat malaria among children.
The vaccine covers children from six months upwards and is used in conjunction with other interventions such as the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, indoor pesticide spraying, and timely access to malaria diagnosis and treatment.
Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe says they are calling for the enhanced uptake of the vaccine.
“We acknowledge that parents, caregivers and health care professionals have embraced malaria vaccination. We believe this has contributed to the increased demand and uptake of the vaccine,” said Kagwe.
Kenya piloted the RTS,S malaria vaccine in 2019.
A newsmaker, reporter and anchor at Pearl Radio, Ndalilah Sharon is witty and savvy.
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