Partners team up in Kenya to fight measles and malaria in children

The government of Kenya has launched a two-phase integrated measles vaccination campaign, targeting more than five million children aged between nine months and five years. In addition to measles vaccinations, the campaign will provide other life-saving health interventions, including polio vaccinations (in select districts), vitamin A and de-worming medicine. Residents in the Nyanza and Western provinces will also receive insecticide-treated nets, proven to be one of the most effective and cost-efficient means of preventing malaria.

The campaign is being supported by the Measles Initiative, a partnership formed to reduce measles deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, which is led by the American Red Cross, United Nations Foundation, World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria has provided long-lasting insecticide treated nets to combat malaria, which is a leading cause of childhood death and disability in Kenya as in many other African countries. The Kenya Red Cross Society will be working with the government and other partners to educate and mobilize communities.

"The Kenya campaign was accelerated to protect children from a recent measles outbreak, the re-emergence of polio in Somalia and the effects of a severe drought," said Per Engeback, UNICEF Regional Director for East and Southern Africa. "The drought led to a food crisis that increased malnutrition in children, making them even more susceptible to measles," he added.