Dr. Ronald Miria Ocaatre the Assistant commissioner for health services in charge of strategic health communication in the Ministry of Health has urged the media to repeatedly disseminate immunization information to the public as this will help them to embrace this practice.
This according to Dr. Ronald will help them as Ministry of Health to easily offer immunization packages to the target audience without getting challenges.
In the months of April and October, the Ministry of Health conducts Integrated Child Health Days (ICHD) programs with an intention of accelerating immunization services to argument their routine monthly and yearly services.
“Immunization is one of our key services that speaks to the greatest population we have, it helps us prevent childhood killer diseases that are affecting children, as a country we now loose less children there is visible progress,” Ocaatre noted.
Dr. Ocaatre made this call while addressing journalists that attended the media orientation meeting on October Integrated child Health Days organized by the Health Ministry in partnership with PATH on Wednesday.
Throughout the month of October, the Ministry will offer programs like deworming, administering vitamin A supplements, nutrition assessments, Td and Hepatiitis B vaccination and to also administer antigens to those children who missed them and are due countrywide.
Dr. Rita Atugonza from the Vaccines and Immunization division Ministry of Health highlighted that the main reasons they engage media in such programs is to help them out mostly in mobilization of ICHDs in communities countrywide.
With a goal of improving uptake of immunization services across life course, Dr. Rita also noted that this is a huge obligation for them alone to fulfill and therefore they needed stakeholders like media to also engage themselves for the achievement of this goal.
The recently released Uganda Demographic health Survey Report indicated decline trends in infant and maternal mortality rates, this according to the Ministry was because of their increased emphasis in immunization before the first 28 days of every born child in their health centers.
Uganda currently offers antigens of diseases like Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, whooping cough, Tetanus, Hepatitis B, Yellow fever, measles, cancer of the cervix, Poliomyelitis amongst others.