UNICEF supports Government to step up routine immunization efforts.
UNICEF supported Ministry of Health efforts to mobilize communities in hard-to-reach areas with low immunization coverage for vaccine catch up
I wish I had known the value of routine immunization, none of my children will have missed and I’m grateful for the support I received from the community mobilisers
Motokwe, Botswana, 8 April 2024 - Twenty-three-year-old Segofatsang Puleng of Motokwe, beams with joy, watch her three children playing around the yard and looking health. She was among mothers who initially resisted routine immunization.
In November 2020, my ministry rolled out the Integrated Based Community Health Services (ICHBS) guidelines to push forward the ‘one health approach,’ for coordinated and standardized health provision in our communities
As a young mother living with disability, she had little information and no support from her family, as a result her children were hardly taken to the child welfare clinic for routine check up. Puleng now understand that vaccines protect her children from childhood ailments, and she never misses the monthly visits to the clinic.
UNICEF supported Ministry of Health efforts to mobilize communities in hard-to-reach areas with low immunization coverage for vaccine catch up. Minister of Health, Dr. Edwin Dikoloti, hailed the intervention by UNICEF as a significant milestone in advancing Integrated Community Child Health Services in Botswana, with a sharp focus on Kweneng.
Allow me to acknowledge caregivers and community members who continue to host the community health workers in their homes for the benefit of children
For her part, UNICEF Representative, Dr Joan Matji applauded the community for positive response to the routine immunization programme
Dr Matji further added that the program would have not succeed without the strength of partnerships between government, development partners, UN, and Non-Governmental Organizations. The intervention was supported by USAID and Botswana Red Cross led community engagement efforts.
