Government says it is committed to promoting quality health care to citizens as a way of protecting them from various life-threatening diseases.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Samson Mndolo made the remarks on Thursday during the launch of a one week-long intergrated Measles, Rubella, Polio, Typhoid conjugate vaccine and Vitamin A supplementation campaign held at Mtaya Primary School Ground in Balaka District.
Speaking with the media after the ceremony, Mndolo said that Government will endeavour to the provision of quality health care services despite the setbacks brought by Tropical Cyclone Freddy which damaged some health facilities.
He added that government understands that some health facilities were damaged and others were washed away as a result of the cyclone which occured a couple of months ago, a development which he says created a huge setback in as far as provision of health care is concerned.
“Government will strive to make sure that this exercise as well as provision of general health care services is not interrupted,” he explained.
On his part, UNICEF coutry representative, Dr. Gianfranco Rotigliano called for equity in the administration of the vaccine and he appealed to stakeholders to ensure that no one should be left behind more especially Children residing in hard to reach areas.
He said: ” If we only vaccine children from the wealthy families, living in the urban areas, that will not complete our goal.
”Access to quality health care is a right.We must therefore ensure that every child must access the vaccines so that we create a nation where everyone can participate in development,” he further said.
World Health Organization (WHO) Country representative for Malawi, Neema Rusimabiyira Kimambo said Malawi is one of the best perfomers in the world in as far as vaccines adminstration is concerned and called for concerted efforts from stakeholders to go an extra mile.
”Prevention is better than cure.We need to continue making immunity high for our children to keep them safe from various ailments,” said Kimambo.
The campaign which will run from 15 to 21 May, 2023 is targeting children from 0 to 14 years and will be conducted with financial support from Gavi,the vaccine alliance, Red Cross, unicef, and WHO.
The campaign was initially supposed to be launched in 2021 but was halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
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