Amref Health Africa to expand children’s immunization in Kenya with grant from Red Nose Day
(Photo: Jeroen Van Loon/Amref Health Africa)
Red Nose Day is a nationwide campaign that brings millions of Americans together to raise money and awareness to end child poverty. A 2017 Red Nose Day grant to Amref Health Africa will help expand immunization coverage for children living in the Kibera slums.
December 14, 2017 – Earlier this week, Amref Health Africa was awarded a grant from the Red Nose Day Fund at Comic Relief USA. The grant will support Amref Health Africa in increasing immunization coverage for children under two years of age in Kenya. The project will target children living in Kibera, a division of Nairobi, Kenya — and the largest urban slum in Africa.
Africa Amref Health Africa has worked in Kibera for over two decades providing primary health services to the residents of the Kibera slums. Amref Health Africa has also trained local health workers to provide services including maternal, newborn, child health services.
Through the award, Amref Health Africa will train Community Health Volunteers to educate parents on the importance of immunization and to collect data on children’s immunization status during household visits. We will train professional health workers on proper immunization management, such as proper cold storage of vaccines, so that they can provide immunization services more efficiently and effectively. Amref Health Africa will also train health workers to use a mobile phone platform that allows them to track parents whose children have missed an immunization appointment, and to send reminders to those parents.
Red Nose Day is an annual campaign to raise money and awareness to end child poverty. It is run by the nonprofit Comic Relief USA, which harnesses the power of entertainment to drive positive change. In 2017, Red Nose Day raised over $40 million in the USA. Each year, the campaign engages millions of Americans across the country to buy and wear the campaign’s official Red Noses, and donate or fundraise for the cause. The multi-week campaign culminates in a night of special primetime TV programming featuring influential celebrities. It aims to entertain viewers as well as educate them about the issues facing children living in poverty in the US and internationally. Red Nose Day returns in 2018 on Thursday May 24.
Money raised through the Red Nose Day campaign has supported programs in all 50 US states, Puerto Rico, and 34 countries internationally. It has helped to fund numerous programs to ensure that children in need are safe, healthy and educated, which includes providing:
- More than 32 million meals for hungry American children
And at home and abroad:
- Essential medical services for more than 6.7 million children
- Educational support for more than 850,000 children
- Care for more than 60,000 homeless children and young people
Learn more about Red Nose Day and Comic Relief
Learn more about how we improve children’s health in Africa
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