By Petro Mkandawire

Blantyre, February 16, Mana: Malawi Health Equity Network (MHEN) Executive Director George Jobe has expressed gratitude over mother care groups (MCGs) contribution on improved vaccine coverage in under-five children in Blantyre rural and other districts where MHEN works with the MCGs on child immunization.

Jobe expressed his appreciation over MCGs role on Saturday during a monitoring tour of Namikoko Health Centre in Traditional Authority Lundu in Blantyre where MHEN was tracking the care group’s performance to see areas that needed improvement to address capacity gaps.

Jobe observed that the under-five vaccine and Immunization coverage greatly improved with over 98% due to MCGs’ support, following advocacy and community mobilization that are carried out to deal with factors that hinder vaccine process.

“The ultimate goal for the mother care group is to ensure that almost every child is vaccinated. We are really impressed with the established of outreach clinics which help to restrain people from walking a long distance to get vaccines.

“Mother care groups are doing their work responsibly, more especially on demand creation, advocacy and community mobilization on the importance of vaccine and other development projects. As such, it is my wish that stakeholders should come in to support the initiative,” added Jobe.

Namikoko MCG chairperson Amina George commended MHEN for empowering the care group, saying the group plays significant role in child vaccination within its catchment with vaccine coverage ranging from 42% in 2020 up to 91% recorded in January 2025.

“Our group has made significant progress, including building a vaccination clinic, increasing participation, and addressing misconceptions which resulted in 287 children under five being vaccinated per month," added George.

She therefore appealed to MHEN and other partners to support the Namikoko MCG with resources, such as push bicycles for easy mobility and uniforms for identification.

The MCGs operate under the Healthy System and Immunization Strengthening (HSIS) project, a seven-year initiative implemented by MHEN in nine districts with funding from Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), to strengthen immunization systems among under-five children.