Kenyan children get the jab of life

Is your child safe?

The risk of contracting pneumonia greatly increases with:

Malnutrition
Zinc deficiency
Malaria & aids
Indoor air pollution, eg when cooking on a wooden fire

No pneumonia vaccinations in Europe

Mass pneumonia vaccination campaigns are uncommon in developped countries, where most children are well-fed and have adequate levels of vitamine A and zinc. Infants are routinely immunised against infectious diseases like whooping cough and measles, and their natural defences can fight the infection that causes pneumonia.

Three-year-old Gladys Njeri is clinging to her mother as the nurse in the Nairobi dispensary swabs her upper arm. A nurse aid gives her a bubble gum just as the main nurse presses a syringe in her arm. Njeri jerks, then shrieks in pain and shock. But the job is already done. She has just received a vaccine against pneumonia– a jab of life.

By Erick Wamanji (Kenya), Mwansa Pintu (Zambia) and Sheriff Bojang Jnr. (Senegal)

Njeri is one of the tens of thousands of Kenyan children under five who are being vaccinated. At the dispensary in the Kawangware slum area, dozens of mothers walk in, their children strapped to their backs. “We heard over the radio that there will be free vaccination for children under five. That is why I brought Gladys here,” says her mother Rahab Wairimu.

Beating pneumonia

Three nurses are running around. “Today I have immunized 100 children,” announces nurse Emily Kavuva. “It’s encouraging that parents have heeded to the immunization drive. This is the only way we can beat pneumonia.”

“I’m so grateful. At least now I know that my child will be protected from pneumonia,” says Martha Mukami, a mother of twins. Mukami lost her second-born to what she describes as ‘extreme fever and breathing problems’ five years ago. Later she learned it was pneumonia. “When I heard this immunisation would protect my daughter from the disease, I immediately decided to come.”

Achieving Millennium Development Goal

The pneumonia vaccination campaign was commissioned by Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki. He sees it as an important step in reducing child mortality and achieving one of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Pneumonia kills more children than any other disease, including AIDS, measles or malaria.

The campaign is a joint effort between the government of Kenya and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). The latter extended a grant of Ksh. 3.2 billion (€ 28.6 million) spread over five years. Kenya has committed to a yearly budget of Ksh. 72 million (€ 644,000) for the project.

Kenya is the first African country to vaccinate children on a large scale against pneumonia, but other countries are bound to follow soon.

Zambia: putting structures in place

The Zambian Ministry of Health spokesperson Dr. Kamoto Mbewe said his country was also interested in rolling out the vaccine. “But we first want to put in place structures for the programme, before we can ask GAVI to support us.”

The World Healh Organisation announced it would support the vaccination campaign in Zambia once the government decides to roll it out. Country representative Dr Olusegun Ayorinde Babaniyi said his organisation supports any programme aimed at improving health, particularly for children.

Senegal: pneumonia mistaken for malaria

In Senegal, pneumonia and related illnesses are responsible for 20% of the under-five child mortality. The situation is particularly bad in remote villages without doctors or nurses.

Clinical nurse Aissatou Diop, who works at the children’s wing of the Fann Hospital in Dakar, has few pneumonia cases to look after. “You see, most people don’t visit a hospital to get examined. If they did that, the prevalence rate of pneumonia in Senegal would be much higher.”

“The problem in Senegal is that every sickness is considered as malaria. So often people have pneumonia but mistake it for malaria,” she says.