Kenya: Child Health Now team launches national Child Survival Communications Campaign

World Vision Kenya Director of Grants Acquisition - Nick Wasunna (left) and Kenya's Cabinet Secretary for Health - James  Macharia, initiate the caravan for the campaign.

By Peter Opiyo, Child Health Now Communications Officer; World Vision Kenya

World Vision Kenya, in partnership with Save the Children, is conducting a national campaign across Kenya to upscale the level of awareness on preventable diseases among children under the age of five. 

The Campaign - dubbed “5 and Alive”, educates the public on newborn, child, and maternal mortality rates and the actions required among the public, the government, and others in order to curb child and maternal deaths. 

At the launch of the event - in Kenya’s biggest slum in Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Health - James Macharia, said child survival and maternal health is, ‘ Key to a country’s development’.

“Child Survival and maternal health are critical, not only as human rights, but also as key indicators towards Kenya’s development. A mother who loses her baby risks getting pregnant too quickly in trying to replace the lost baby, thus increasing pregnancy-related complications,” said Mr Macharia.

This is the second phase of the National Child Survival Communications Campaign, the first one having been initiated in August 2012. This campaign will incorporate road shows and media campaigns in order to widely spread the messages.

World Vision Kenya National Director- Dickens Thunde, said though some progress has been made in reducing child deaths, more still needs to be done. The campaign seeks to call all players into action. 

“Though significant progress has been made in child health between 2003 and 2008, child mortality rate still remains high at 74 per 1,000 live births against the MDG target of 33 per 1,000 live births by 2015,” said Mr Thunde.

“It is important that children enjoy good health and that is why World Vision encourages endeavours such as this campaign, which seeks to reduce child mortality.”

The Campaign is a key strategy in ensuring Kenya accelerates its progress in reducing child and maternal mortality rates as envisioned in the MDGs 4 (Reducing Child Mortality) and 5 (improving maternal health).

It focuses on creating widespread awareness on the high rates of child and maternal mortality rates in Kenya and cultivating a national sense of concern while communicating the key actions that must be taken by the public and the government to address the high mortality rates.

It encourages families, individuals and communities to embrace behaviour changes in relation to the health of the child, and aims to educate families regarding their rights to quality health care, as noted in Kenya’s Constitution, promulgated in August 2010. Under Article 43 (1)(a), it state sthat every Kenyan is entitled to high standards of health. "Every person has the right to the highest attainable standard of health, which includes the right to health care services, including reproductive health care.”

Every year, about 189,000 children in Kenya die from preventable and treatable illnesses like Malaria, Pneumonia and diarrheoa before reaching their fifth birthday while almost a third of these children die within the first month.

These deaths can be averted through washing hands with soap, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, visiting health facilities regularly, and the immunisation of children.

The campaign would run for 16 days and would cover 14 towns. Radio messaging will also be used to order to increase awareness.