KENYA – Amref Health Africa, global biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the Ministry of Health in Kenya have partnered to introduce a fleet of Mobile Vaccination Clinics (MVCs) in a bid to make COVID-19 vaccines accessible for people living in hard-to-reach areas.
The movable clinics come at time when at least 100 health emergencies per year occur in Africa and thinking out of the box through innovations in health may be the region’s only chance at timely response if and when emergencies occur.
The mobile clinics seek to address geographic limitations that have long hindered efforts by the Kenyan government to provide health services to people in remote areas thus vulnerable communities will be able to access much needed COVID-19 vaccines.
Each mobile clinic aims to vaccinate 70-100 people per day reaching up to 1,000 people per day once all 10 mobile clinics are fully operational.
The partnership launched ten mobile vaccination clinics that will administer COVID-19 vaccines and other essential health services to hard-to-reach communities across Kenya in an effort to protect last-mile communities from the ongoing widespread pandemic.
In addition, the vaccination initiative will be implemented in coordination with the County Health Departments and the custom-built clinics are fitted with solar-powered fridges and backup power supply observing health and infection prevention control standards.
The movable clinics will provide vaccine education, COVID-19 screening, safe and accessible vaccination, and post-immunization care to help bridge the current COVID-19 vaccine gap, Africa’s average vaccination rate is 17.7% lagging behind other world regions
“Each mobile clinic aims to vaccinate 70-100 people per day reaching up to 1,000 people per day once all 10 mobile clinics are fully operational. The initiative will help increase vaccine access and uptake in Kenya,” AstraZeneca said in a statement.
The partnership is in line with AstraZeneca’s ongoing commitment to a patient-centric response to the pandemic, over three billion doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine have been delivered across the globe helping to save an estimated 3.6 million lives.
Under the deal, Amref Flying Doctors (AFD) will replenish the mobile clinics in hard-to-reach areas to ensure their effective deployment while timely data capture and reporting will be facilitated through onsite web-enabled computers.
The clinics will also support existing public health infrastructure by serving as fixed clinics when not conducting community outreach programmes to ease burden on local health facilities as Kenya integrates vaccination services into primary health care.
The clinics will integrate health promotion to raise awareness of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and provide NCD health service continuity, specifically targeting people living with diabetes and hypertension for prevention and control of non-communicable diseases.
Amref Health Africa Group CEO Dr. Githinji Gitahi stressed that addressing health determinants such as non-communicable diseases that influence how health emergencies affect individuals is critical to avert the negative impact that health emergencies such as COVID-19 have on communities.
He acknowledged Amref Health partners, the Ministry of Health in Kenya, AstraZeneca and other stakeholders in the private and public sectors commitment to sustaining the momentum towards vaccinating 70% of the eligible population through the mobile clinic innovative solution.
Dr. Githinji Gitahi said that the movable clinics are a great addition to the emergency response toolkit that will ensure equity in access to last-mile communities with much-needed vaccination and essential health services.
He maintained that the clinics will add to the health system infrastructure ultimately, further improving our preparedness for health emergencies in the country in continental efforts to protect lives from COVID-19 and other life-threatening diseases.
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