Kenya: Save the Children awarded multi-year grant from the Pfizer Foundation to reduce Infectious Disease in Children under 5

Save the Children is pleased to announce that, with support from the Pfizer Foundation, we are expanding our efforts to increase immunization coverage among vulnerable populations in Kenya. The Reducing Infectious Disease in Children under Age 5 project will improve access to and use of high-quality immunization services among semi-nomadic and nomadic pastoralists in Mandera and Wajir counties and in the Kibera urban slum of Nairobi County, reaching more than 430,000 children under five. In addition to developing messages and approaches tailored to address the reasons children in the target communities miss immunizations and strengthening the capacity of nearly 900 health workers in immunization practice and quality of care, Save the Children will support Ministry of Health officials in each county to better plan, finance, implement and monitor immunization rates among vulnerable populations. At the national level, the project will strengthen immunization coordination mechanisms and oversight bodies and support the government of Kenya to develop, fund and implement a plan to successfully transition from Gavi support beginning in 2021. After three years, Save the Children expects to have increased immunization coverage by 30% at project sites and to have supported the government of Kenya to institutionalize sustainable processes and systems for efficient immunization activities that reach the most vulnerable.

This generous and significant investment from the Pfizer Foundation supports Save the Children’s global commitment to ending childhood pneumonia, the leading preventable cause of death among children under age five.