Ministry of Health receives 940 tablets worth Ksh 49M from WHO

The Ministry of Health has Wednesday received 940 tablets worth Ksh 49,461,358 (USD 376,132).

These tablets which were procured by the World Health Organization will be used to strengthen the Immunization Data Management across the 47 Counties, 315 sub counties with an aim of improving Immunization coverage.

While receiving them, CS Susan Nakhumicha thanked WHO for their continued commitment in protecting Kenyans through the vaccination program.

In addition, she appreciated the County leadership for embracing their mandate of devolved health service delivery and ensuring that immunization coverage remains high and vaccine preventable diseases are controlled.

“All of this would not be achieved without the support of our partners especially Gavi, who have played a crucial role over the years in the immunization program through vaccine grants. We deeply appreciate our partners for the collaboration and express our gratitude for the continued support, which has significantly contributed to supporting Primary Health Care—a key pillar in the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC),” she concluded.

Each of the 940 units has a KNOX ID for traceability through remote tracking. The IT admins can remotely track, manage, configure, and send messages to the devices.

These 940 tablets will go a long way to contribute to improve quality of immunization data and hence provide verifiable data.

The data elements include vaccination records and vaccine supply stock at vaccination points. Data is the cornerstone to inform decision making and hence the need for quality data.

On his part, WHO Country Representative, Kenya, Dr Abdourahmane Diallo, congratulated the Ministry of Health for the resilience of its health system and more so the immunization programme during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, he urged the Ministry, the County Governments, and their partners to put in place mechanisms to map out vulnerable groups and put in place efforts to ensure universal access to vaccines which are lifesaving commodities.

“This is in line with the WHO recommendation “the Big Catch-Up campaign” to recover from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.