NAIROBI, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- Kenya has recorded progress in malaria elimination thanks to the adoption of a vaccine, treated nets in households and improved management of the disease.
John Wekesa, acting director-general of the Ministry of Health said that the usage of the malaria vaccine has boosted the fight of the disease that is a leading cause of deaths among women and children under five years of age in Africa.
"We remain committed to ensuring the highest possible quality of health is guaranteed to our population through eradication of killer diseases like malaria," Wekesa told a commonwealth advisory committee on health (CACH) meeting in Nairobi on Monday.
The malaria vaccine known as RTS,S was launched in the western Kenyan county of Homa Bay by the ministry of health and the World Health Organization (WHO) on September 13.
According to a WHO report released recently, malaria vaccine has seen a drastic reduction in the number of young children succumbing to the disease.
Wekesa said that Kenya will scale up investment in malaria prevention and treatment programs targeting high burden counties in western parts of the country and the coast region.
According to the official, The Kenyan government has been piloting Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in four counties and targets to scale up nationally within two years.
"Within the lessons learned from this pilot from early next year we will scale up UHC nationally and have ambitious targets to reach 100 percent coverage," said Wekesa.
