Ministry of Health, Kenya in Partnership with Amref Health Africa and AstraZeneca Rolls out Mobile Clinics to Boost Covid Vaccines Uptake

In Summary

• The mobile clinics will increase the number of service points for vaccination and also disseminate health information on risk factors for NCDs 

• Each mobile clinic aims to vaccinate 70 to 100 people per day reaching up to 1,000 people per day once all 10 mobile clinics are fully operational. 

One of the 10 movable clinics will help boost the uptake of Covid vaccines and other health services closer to the people on June 27, 2022

Kenyans in hard-to-reach areas can now have access to Covid-19 vaccines after the government launched mobile vaccination clinics.

The 10 movable clinics will help boost the uptake of Covid vaccines and other health services closer to the people in an effort to protect last-mile communities from the pandemic.

The fleet was launched in Kibera on Monday in a joint partnership between Amref Health Africa and AstraZeneca in collaboration with the Ministry of Health.

The mobile clinics will increase the number of service points for vaccination and also disseminate health information on risk factors for NCDs and promote healthy behaviour in the community.

Each mobile clinic aims to vaccinate 70 to 100 people per day reaching up to 1,000 people per day once all 10 mobile clinics are fully operational. 

The mobile clinics will help to bridge the Covid-19 vaccine gap by providing vaccine education, Covid-19 screening, safe and accessible vaccination, and post-immunisation care.

“It is evident that health emergencies are here to stay, and thinking out of the box through innovations in health may be our only chance at timely response if, and when emergencies occur,” Group CEO Amref Health Africa Dr Githinji Gitahi said.

Operated in partnership with the County Health Departments, and adhering to health and infection prevention control standards, the custom-built clinics are fitted with solar-powered fridges and a backup power supply.

Timely data capture and reporting are facilitated through onsite web-enabled computers.

Amref Flying Doctors (AFD) will replenish the mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas to ensure their effective deployment.

According to the ministry, Nairobi county has the largest population of adults and the highest burden of Covid-19 disease, with cases from Nairobi constituting 41 per cent of reported Covid-19 cases in Kenya.

“The Government is concerned that 1.5 million adults in the county remain unvaccinated, or one in every two people,” Health PS Susan Mochache said.

“The unvaccinated people not only risk their lives but also those of vulnerable people around them. We must therefore seek out the remaining unvaccinated population even more aggressively through collaboration with all stakeholders,” she added.

The ministry is targeting to vaccinate the entire adult population by the end of December 2022 and 50 per cent of the teenage population aged 15-17 years against Covid-19.

Data shows that as of Friday, a total of 18.7 million vaccines have been administered across the country with 16.7 million being doses administered to the adult population (18 years and above).

Another 1.5 million are doses administered to those between 15 to 17 years, 41,603 to those below 15 years but above 12 years while 445,389 are booster doses.

Currently, 50 per cent of all adults above 18 years in Nairobi County are fully vaccinated, the second-highest coverage in the country.

Another 155,000 booster doses have also been administered in the county.

Article first published on https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2022-06-28-moh-rolls-out-mobile-clinics-to-boost-covid-vaccines-uptake/