Last year, Antony Clements, one of our medical volunteers looked at
the childhood immunisation rates.
All children in
Namibia should receive a measles vaccination at 9 months of age, but
he found that only 67% of children locally were immunized against measles.
This is below the level that is recommended for good immunity of the community
(herd immunity) and is a problem throughout the Epukiro region. Measles
represents a significant cause (5%) of preventable deaths in children under 5
living in Namibia.
One of the problems identified for poor immunisation rates was
that the San parents did not realise when their child reached 9 months or did
not have the child’s medical card. There is also a reluctance of parents to
take their children to the state clinic for their immunisations as they feel
nervous about going or sometimes unwelcome.
We hope that this
year we will be able to buy a suitable generator for our fridge (to ensure
vaccines stay cold during a power cut) so that we can also offer an
immunisation service and improve the immunisation rate locally.
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