Kiambu first lady Philomena Kabogo on Thursday launched the Malezi Bora healthcare campaign at the Kimende Orthodox Maternity Hospital in Lari sub-county.
The drive aims at the enhancing mothers’ and children’s health. It is expected to handle immunization and deworming of children, HIV testing and counselling, family planning and giving children vitamin A supplements .
Mrs Kabogo also promised to bring polio vaccinations earlier than its normal schedule. According to her, these will improve the health of children if it is implemented together with the Malezi Bora initiative.
The Malezi Bora intervention is one of the projects under the Beyond Zero campaign which was started by first lady Margret Kenyatta mainly to enhance good maternal services.
According to a Unicef report, 23,000 child deaths are linked to increased vulnerability of infections caused by lack of Vitamin A, and around 70 percent of children under six have a sub-clinical vitamin A deficiency that sees them grow up with reduced immunity.
Micro-nutritionist Chris Wanyoike added that 15 percent of women die due to poor delivery services and also due to lack of proper nutrition, which sees them end up giving birth to unhealthy infants.
The county director of Health, Dr Johna Mwangi, praised the community health volunteers for the their work of moving from house to house educating expectant mothers on the importance of giving birth in hospitals.
“Cases of women giving birth at home through traditional ways have reduced here and people have now became more civilized,” said Mwangi.
Many leaders and health officers praised Lari sub-county for the cooperation in health measures to fight against diseases affecting them, saying that was evident in the large turnout at the function.