Health and Wellness Atlas

How The Body Thrives
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme
Public Health Program

Kenya Expanded Programme on Immunization

Immunization Program

Kenya's national childhood vaccination program, established by the government in June 1980 to oversee and monitor immunization of children nationwide, initially against six diseases that were then among the leading killers of children under five: tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and measles. The Kenya Expanded Programme on Immunization, known by the acronym KEPI, made Kenya the second African country, after Nigeria, to roll out a full nationwide immunization program, and coverage rose steadily in its early years: national surveys found only 43 percent of children fully immunized before KEPI began, rising to 51 percent by 1987, with measles vaccine effectiveness improving from about 50 percent to about 70 percent over the same period, even as coverage continued to vary widely between regions and social groups.

Facts
Launch Year
1980 1
Target Population
All children in Kenya, from birth. 1
Health Goal
To ensure all child diseases are prevented through immunization from birth, against tuberculosis, pneumonia, diarrhea, polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis, meningitis, yellow fever, malaria and cervical cancer. 1
Program status (class)
Ongoing 1
Classification
Program Kind
Vaccination or Immunization Program 1
Connections

Associated With

Source WHO AFRO: Kenya celebrates immunization as more children are reached with RTS,S

Delivers Practice

Vaccination, Practices
In the Other Atlases

Found In

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Sources
1. WHO AFRO: Kenya celebrates immunization as more children are reached with RTS,S
WHO Regional Office for Africa
  • article, establishment sentence
    Kenya since 1980, established the Kenya Expanded Programme for Immunization, KEPI, which set its pace to ensure all child diseases are prevented through immunization from birth.
  • article, target-diseases sentence
    These include tuberculosis, pneumonia, diarrhea, polio, measles, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis, meningitis, yellow fever, malaria and cervical cancer.
  • article, establishment sentence, target-population clause
    Kenya since 1980, established the Kenya Expanded Programme for Immunization, KEPI, which set its pace to ensure all child diseases are prevented through immunization from birth.
  • Page text
    She commended Kenya for its resilience and sustenance of the immunization programme through a difficult time like Covid-19. “There are many lessons to learn from the Kenyan immunization programme which could be shared with other countries”.
  • Program classification, entity description sentence
    Kenya's national childhood vaccination program, established by the government in June 1980 to oversee and monitor immunization of children nationwide, initially against six diseases that were then among the leading killers of children under five: tuberculosis, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus and measles.
View the Source
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.