Close to three million children under five years in 15 counties will next week be vaccinated against polio.
The move is aimed at keeping the viral infection outside the Kenyan borders.
This follows a polio risk analysis conducted by the Ministry of Health, aimed at eradicating polio in Kenya which identified Nairobi, Lamu, Tana River, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit, Isiolo, Samburu, Turkana, West Pokot, Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Bungoma and Busia as “high-risk counties”.
The Ministry of Health is set to launch a nationwide campaign against polio that will run for five days from January 18.
It will be launched at the Isiolo County Referral Hospital.
The head of Disease Surveillance at the Ministry of Health, Dr Daniel Langat, said the vaccination had been prompted by an ongoing polio outbreak within Africa – Nigeria in August 2016 – that he says potentially exposes Kenya to a possible polio outbreak.