Alarm as 473 children die every day

It says that about 3.5 million children under five years are at risk of developing severe malaria, which can result in severe anaemia and brain damage.

In addition, pregnant women are particularly susceptible to malaria, resulting in anaemia and low birth weight and maternal death. The agency also blames the deaths on poor breastfeeding habits among Kenyan mothers.

It says that though a child should exclusively be breastfed within the first six months, less than three per cent of babies are exclusively breastfed, with some mothers weaning their babies too early, even immediately after birth.

As a result of this, the babies get sick more often, and stand a higher risk of Vitamin A and Iron deficiencies.

It also leads to poor physical growth and development (one in every five babies are underweight, and one in every three babies are stunted).

Poor performance

The children also have poor brain development, leading to poor performance in school. Immunisation is one way of ensuring that children don’t die of preventable childhood diseases, including polio and measles.

According to Unicef, Kenya’s ability to remain polio-free is threatened by circulation of the polio virus in the neighbouring countries of Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan, and the frequent migration of nomadic pastoralists across those borders.

Cases of polio in Kenya were confirmed in 2006, about 22 years after the last recorded case.