Mother care-groups hailed for boosting immunisation uptake in Chitipa

By Andrew Gondwe

Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) has applauded mother care-groups in Chitipa for contributing to the increased number of under-five children getting vaccinated in the district.

Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for MHEN, Florence Khonyongwa was speaking on Saturday after visiting Kasaghala Health Post that was renovated by Wiyule Mother Care-group from Chalambweni 1 Village, in the area of Senior Chief Mwenemisuku in the district.

Khonyongwa said the mother care-group also constructed a house for health surveillance assistants (HSA) under the Health Systems Strengthening Project which MHEN implemented in the district in 2019.

“The aim of the project was to empower women to help HSAs trace children who miss immunisation in their localities. As a result, more under-five children who are missing vaccination were traced and vaccinated,\” said Khonyongwa.

Chairperson for Wiyule Mother Caregroup, Kestass Chiona said under-five children in the area are receiving all the required vaccines because parents are able to understand the importance of vaccinating their children.

\”We also assisted in advocating for provision of a refrigerator for keeping vaccines at Kasaghala Health Post. This has helped to reduce the distance parents were travelling to get their children vaccinated,” she said.

Deputy Extended Programme Immunisation Coordinator for Chitipa District Hospital, Tamandani Juma said with the introduction of the project, percentage of under-five children in the district getting immunised has risen from 65 to 75.

Health Systems Strengthening Project is supported by Global Alliance for Vaccine Immunisation (GAVI) through the Ministry of Health.