By Pempho Nkhoma

Blantyre, May 23, Mana: Male involvement has contributed to a 35 percent increase in under-5 vaccine and immunization coverage at Kadidi Health Centre in Blantyre, moving from 50 percent to 85 percent.

This was disclosed Thursday when Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) visited Nkolesya Mother Care Group (MCG) at Group Village head Nkolesya, Traditional Authority (TA) Kapeni in Blantyre to appreciate the group’s performance in child immunization.

MHEN trained Nkolesya MCG which was established in 2019 to help sensitize the community on the importance of under-5 vaccine and immunization.

Speaking during the meeting at Kadidi Health Centre, Senior Health Surveillance Assistant, Jude Kuseliwe, hailed MCG for bringing male parents on board saying before their involvement the coverage was below 50 percent.

“During MCG’s community mobilization, the group informed men on the importance of child vaccination and convinced them to take part in the programme. We are now receiving a large number of men at the outreach clinic and during vaccine distribution,” he said.

Kuseliwe added that Nkolesya MCG contribution prompted establishing another MCG to cover other remaining villages to improve Kadidi Health Centre’s outreach.

Nkolesya MCG Chairperson, Kattie Kamowa, said the training that MHEN offered helped the MCG to successfully mobilize the community, including male parents, to take an active role in under-5 vaccine and immunization programmes.

“Men have understood that child vaccination is a shared responsibility. When men are not taking part or show no interest in child vaccination programmes, they put their children at risk of being under immunized because when a mother is sick there will be no one to follow up the vaccine schedule,” she said.

Group Village head Nkolesya thanked MHEN for building MCG’s capacity saying the group’s community mobilization minimized under-5 mortality in his area.

Nkolesya MCG operates under Kadidi Health Centre and has 30 members from three villages.