The Department of Health and Sanitation in Turkana County has trained over 40 sub-county health vaccine depot managers on vaccine management in ongoing measures to ensure the region is free from vaccine-preventable diseases.
The exercise was facilitated by the county government and supported by the National Vaccination Program on Immunisation and United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS).
Speaking at the meeting, Acting Director for Preventive and Promotive Health Services Lucas Edete stressed the need for the health team to assess areas of improvement to increase the uptake of vaccines in Turkana.
“Let us identify areas that have low vaccination and factors contributing to it, so we can improve on our numbers,” he said.
He also mentioned the need to optimise the utilisation of mobilised resources from strategic collaborations, terming it as a key driver towards enhancing health activities on immunisation across the county.
The County Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI) Coordinator Daniel Erus revealed that Turkana has achieved a major improvement in vaccination coverage through enhanced strategies, ensuring maximum immunisation coverage.
“The county government has improved healthcare facilities that are enabled to carry immunisation programmes across the county from 130 to 230,” he said.
On his part, County Health Records and Information Director, Peter Etee mentioned that through the training, the sub-county healthcare team will be able to promote data-driven decision-making to leverage immunisation goals across the county.
The Director, Kalobeyei Integrated Socio-Economic Development Plan (KISEDP), Godfrey Akolong, emphasised the need to extend such opportunities to private clinic owners who are actively providing immunisation services.
“Strengthening their capacity is equally essential to safeguarding quality, safety, and consistency across the whole service delivery landscape,” he said.
The Aroo Sub-County Medical Officer of Health Veronica Ereng termed the training as a pathway to determine the accurate vaccine potency and provide updates on cold-chain equipment at sub-county level.
In attendance were county and sub-county health management teams, medical officers of health and EPI depot managers from different sub-counties.
By Peter Gitonga
