Why Polio Campaigns Must Reach Every Last Child in Kenya

Rudi Eggers is WHO Country Representative in Kenya and Werner Schultink is UNICEF Representative in Kenya

Credit: ©UNICEFKENYA/2011/MODOLA

NAIROBI, Jan 20 2017 (IPS) – For a long time, no person in Kenya suffered the devastating disability that is caused by polio. In fact, the only reminder in the early 2000s was the victims in the streets of Nairobi, many of whom had been paralyzed as children and adults. Their lives were ravaged by this terrible, vaccine-preventable disease.

A five-day polio campaign that started on 18 January, 2017 targets more than 2.9 million children below the age of 5 years in fifteen counties. Children in high-risk areas — some of whom have never had access to immunization services before — will have an opportunity to be vaccinated against polio.
Sadly, in 2013 a large outbreak of polio in Nigeria spread across the continent, affecting several countries on its way east. Kenya was not spared.  Fourteen new polio cases were confirmed. The polio virus struck those that were unvaccinated – the most vulnerable and the most excluded children in areas with poor access to health services, refugees, and nomadic communities.  Fortunately, a rapid response by the Kenyan Government brought the polio outbreak under control, and the last case was reported in July 2013.  At that time, it seemed that the country was well on the road to being declared polio-free.

However, recently, concerned scientists have pointed to the increasing risk of polio, particularly the large numbers of children who remain unvaccinated, especially those in vulnerable populations in the northern part of the country and in the informal settlements of Nairobi and Mombasa.  Furthermore, the notion that the African continent was free from the polio virus was shattered when four new polio cases were reported in northern Nigeria. Given the previous experience, health experts and Ministries of Health recommended that the areas with low vaccination rates should be targeted with vaccination campaigns, specifically designed to reach those that missed out on the routine vaccinations.

Since the establishment of the Expanded Programme of Immunization (EPI) in 1980, Kenya deserves credit for reaching majority of the children with life-saving vaccines. But there is still a lot more work that needs to be done; progress in the country is very uneven and many children remain unvaccinated. It is estimated that 400,000 (3 out of 10) children still do not receive all the required scheduled doses of vaccines by their first birthday. This build-up of under-immunized children has previously contributed to outbreaks of polio. Most of these children come from poor families, the urban informal settlements and the hard-to-reach parts of the country, particularly arid and semi-arid (ASAL) regions where access to health services is limited.

A child receives vaccination against polio in a Mother and Child Health (MCH) Clinic at Mukuru Health Centre, in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: ©UNICEFKENYA/2016/NOORANI

As long as there is a child out there who has contracted this disease, no matter where they live or who they are – all children everywhere are not safe. The four cases confirmed in October 2016 in the current polio outbreak in Nigeria place other African countries, including Kenya, at risk of importing the wild polio virus, due to the unaccounted number of unvaccinated children across the continent as well as the high population movement.

In the final push towards eradicating polio by 2018, Kenya with its strict monitoring system for the safety and quality assurance of vaccines, has already proved that it has the capacity to make the whole country polio-free. A five-day polio campaign that started on 18 January, 2017 targets more than 2.9 million children below the age of 5 years in the fifteen counties of Bungoma, Busia, Garissa, Isiolo, Lamu, Mandera, Marsabit, Nairobi, Samburu, Tana River, Trans Nzoia, Turkana, Wajir, West Pokot and Uasin Gishu. Children in high-risk areas some of whom have never had access to immunization services before will have an opportunity to be vaccinated against polio.

To ensure that all vulnerable children are reached, the exercise will be relying on the steadfast commitment of vaccination teams and the communities they serve. These heroic women and men in most cases walk long distances from house-to-house, often in the most dangerous of circumstances to reach all children. Communities where the polio campaign is backed and encouraged by religious and community leaders have much higher rates of protection than those that lack this support.

As part of the worldwide campaign to eradicate polio, there is need for everyone to rally behind this polio vaccination campaign, to reach each and every child regardless of their geographical location of their status in society. We have a responsibility to protect hundreds of thousands of children in Kenya from being paralyzed for life; from being excluded from their communities; and from being denied their right to a full and productive life.

In 2017 and beyond, no child in Kenya should suffer the consequences of a vaccine-preventable disease, for every child deserves to live in a polio-free world.