TURKANA: The Turkana County Department of Health and Sanitation has completed a training program focused on surveillance for adverse events following immunization, enhancing the region’s public health response capabilities.

According to Kenya News Agency, the training involved adverse-events-after-immunisation investigator Training of Trainers (ToTs) and encompassed various healthcare roles at the sub-county level. The initiative was a collaboration between the Turkana County Department of Health and Sanitation, Path Kenya, and the National Vaccine Immunisation Programme. Over three days, the participants, including Sub-Country Medical Officers of Health, Expanded Programme on Immunisation Officers, Pharmacists, Public Health Officers, and Health Records Information Officers, were educated on how to better detect and report any adverse reactions that might occur post-vaccination.

Dr. Ameyo stated that with the introduction of new vaccines, such as those for COVID-19, yellow fever, and HPV, real-time detection and reporting of adverse events have become imperative. The training aims to close the reporting gaps within the different sub-counties. Additionally, Gabriel Lopodo, the Head of the Family Division, emphasized the shared responsibility of all healthcare workers in immunisation services, especially in a region like Turkana, which frequently faces disease outbreaks. He also noted the influence of neighboring countries with less robust health systems on these outbreaks.

County Pharmacist Dr. Brian Muyokani informed that subsequent training sessions would concentrate on improving the investigation processes once detection and reporting have been enhanced.