Uganda’s State Minister for Health (Primary Health Care) Hon Sarah AcengOpendi made an appealed to the Ugandan media to partner with government to sensitize communities on the benefits of immunization to help reduce the large numbers of unimmunized children in the country.

Speaking at a media advocacy breakfast meeting to commemorate African Vaccination Week and to announce the impending launch of the Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, Hon Opendi commended the media for playing an important role in and development of the country.

“My ministry recognizes the media as a very important stakeholder in health and development of our nation. Only when a country has a healthy population, can quality life be realized and socio economic development be achieved,” she said.

“I appeal to all media houses to continuously sensitize, mobilize and educate all communities towards uptake of the available routine immunization services, that the Government of Uganda provides free to the eligible children,” she added.

She announced the finale to the African Vaccination Week would be the launch of the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine by the President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni on 27 April. The media was informed that pneumonia was the second most common cause of death and illness in infants in Uganda and the vaccine would help alleviate the suffering.

She lambasted the anti-vaccine lobby groups that were mushrooming in the country and warned them to immunize or face the law. Uganda’s lawmakers will soon vote on a private members bill on immunization which seeks to criminalize parents or caretakers who do not take children for vaccination.

Speaking at the same occasion Acting manager of the Uganda Expanded Programme on Immunization (UNEPI) Dr Jacinta Sabiiti said Uganda had taken ownership of the immunization programme and had strategized ways of increase immunization coverage from 53% to 95%.

_________________________________________________________________

For further information, please contact:

Mr. Benjamin Sensasi, Health Information and Promotion Officer, WHO Uganda,
Tel: +256 (0)772 507906, sensasib [at] ug.afro.who.int