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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Survival / Success
- Subject: Politics / Power / Abuse of Power
- Published: 09/12/2013
Parliamentary Briefing on Advocacy for SIF in Kenya
Born 1980, M, from Nairobi, KenyaProtecting the nation’s health through immunization is an area that requires close collaboration between Ministry of Health, Ministry of Financing, Parliament and development partners. KANCO, SABIN Vaccine Institute, Kenya Pediatric Association and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of health through Division of Vaccines and Immunization, Ministry of Finance, hosted a second parliamentary briefing on Immunization on 4th September 2012 at Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
The meeting aimed to discuss the need for legislating for immunization in the current context, bring forth critical immunization issues that need the attention Parliamentary Health Committee and share the report of the second SABIN SIF Colloquium held in Dakar in August 2013.
Attended by 23 Members of the Parliamentary Health Committee, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Transition Authority, UNICEF, Rotary and USAID REGIONAL officials, the meeting was opened by the Chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee – Dr. Rachel Nyamai.
During the meeting, Dr. Mutie, the Deputy Director of Division of Vaccines and Immunization noted that Kenya has to safeguard money for vaccines. The introduction of the new Railway Development Levy is causing delay on clearance of vaccines and injection equipment from the entry ports due to numerous exemption letters required from other government ministries and institutions among them Treasury, Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, KEMSA among others. This is leading to accumulation of charges which has gone as high as Ksh.4 Million with port charging Ksh. 56,000 per day, creating an artificial shortage of vaccines in the country. “Some countries tag vaccine for easier clearance” he noted, adding it’s something the Kenyan government should consider emulating.
On financing Dr. Mutie noted that GAVI is paying 85% on co-financing of Pneumococcal and Pentavalent Vaccines, while the Government of Kenya is co-paying 15% (about Ksh. 210 Million). The government is ‘unable’ to absorb a higher pay in co-financing GAVI’s funded vaccines.
On legislations or establishment of Kenya’s National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), he emphasized that parliament should make legal provisions for its establishment. CIVAC has been working with Division of Vaccines and Immunizations in this, but progress has been hampered by the lack of legal provision to back the establishment of a NITAG.
“Payment of Government of Kenya services via IFMIS that keeps bills increasing unnecessarily due to delays and Co-financing remittance delay to our account with UNICEF which procures vaccines on behalf of the government, also needs re-dressing”, he mentioned.
According to Dr. Maalim Dabar of Transition Authority, Immunization will remain a national function under the new devolved structure. However, the national government will work closely with the Country Governments on vaccines delivery and sharing operational cost. Dr. Honorable Eseli, reinforced the need for Kenya to rethink financing of the new and more expensive vaccines and legislation to enforce vaccination. He took issue with the need to form a strong lobby group in parliament to push for immunization issues as a key cornerstone in public health. “Ugandan parliament has formed such a lobby group”, Dr. Eseli noted.
Of interest was the discussion around the 170 cases of polio in the horn of Africa and the role of military in the delivery of public health services. With Military intervention, Somali has registered poor delivery and access of vaccination services, leading to high levels of disease susceptibility and outbreaks of polio. These outbreaks have seen polio transportation to Kenya, with now 14 cases confirmed and 2 related deaths. Situations of armed conflicts present handicaps in the eradication of poliomyelitis and outbreaks due to difficulties in accessing the susceptible populations.
GAVI has developed policy recommendations on “Immunization during Complex Emergencies’. However, these focuses more on GAVI internal mechanisms of supporting Immunization in complex emergencies, including countries experiencing armed conflicts. He noted the need for Medical team in KDF to also focus on offering vaccination services to Somalia children. Dr. Hon. Nyikal expressed the need to improve cross border surveillance. He noted that the committee is willing to work on specific immunization legislation or even amending the Health Bill to factor in immunization.
The other issue of focus during the meeting was the need for the country to legislate for Immunization and ensure a comprehensive legal framework on immunization touching on financing, access, role of government(s) are taken into consideration. Jack Ndegwa, the vaccine Development Advocacy Officer with Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium highlighted the importance of legislation as an important pillar in ensuring sustainable immunization financing. Presenting an Audit of immunization related laws in the current context; he noted that Kenya has inadequate Immunization legal provisions safeguarding financing mechanisms.
Dr. Hon. Mohammed Duale noted that the government needs to ensure that funding for Supplementary Immunization Activities especially Measles and Polio is given the adequate attention. For Measles SIAs, the government is expected to contribute 50% of the total cost, while the rest, 50% by development partners, a challenge experienced in 2012 that led to delays in campaigns hence the measles outbreak.
Concluding the meeting, the MPs agreed to support immunization draft bill and then liase with the cabinet secretary to present it in parliament and form a Parliamentary Lobby Group on Immunization, as in the case of Uganda.
For vaccine clearance, given the administrative nature of this challenge, the legislators proposed a short term solution in that the Ministry of Health prepares a brief paper stating the nature of the problem in detail, including all the certificates and letters required to clear the vaccines from the port of entry, and the period of artificial stock outs that can emerge. It was also agreed that the immunization law should specifically address how to expedite vaccines clearance at port of entry into Kenya.
The 1.5% Railway Levy on all Imports will be discussed in Cabinet meeting given that the tax is incurred by government. For Co-Financing and SIAs Campaign budget lines, the Division of Vaccines and Immunizations (DVI) should aim to ensure that these are applied for in the budget in time, and aggressively advocated for. Lastly, once parliamentary immunization lobby group is formed, the MPs shall will be releasing press statements on immunization issues and engage the media.
Parliamentary Briefing on Advocacy for SIF in Kenya(Jack)
Protecting the nation’s health through immunization is an area that requires close collaboration between Ministry of Health, Ministry of Financing, Parliament and development partners. KANCO, SABIN Vaccine Institute, Kenya Pediatric Association and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in collaboration with the Ministry of health through Division of Vaccines and Immunization, Ministry of Finance, hosted a second parliamentary briefing on Immunization on 4th September 2012 at Intercontinental Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya.
The meeting aimed to discuss the need for legislating for immunization in the current context, bring forth critical immunization issues that need the attention Parliamentary Health Committee and share the report of the second SABIN SIF Colloquium held in Dakar in August 2013.
Attended by 23 Members of the Parliamentary Health Committee, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Finance, Transition Authority, UNICEF, Rotary and USAID REGIONAL officials, the meeting was opened by the Chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee – Dr. Rachel Nyamai.
During the meeting, Dr. Mutie, the Deputy Director of Division of Vaccines and Immunization noted that Kenya has to safeguard money for vaccines. The introduction of the new Railway Development Levy is causing delay on clearance of vaccines and injection equipment from the entry ports due to numerous exemption letters required from other government ministries and institutions among them Treasury, Kenya Revenue Authority, Kenya Bureau of Standards, KEMSA among others. This is leading to accumulation of charges which has gone as high as Ksh.4 Million with port charging Ksh. 56,000 per day, creating an artificial shortage of vaccines in the country. “Some countries tag vaccine for easier clearance” he noted, adding it’s something the Kenyan government should consider emulating.
On financing Dr. Mutie noted that GAVI is paying 85% on co-financing of Pneumococcal and Pentavalent Vaccines, while the Government of Kenya is co-paying 15% (about Ksh. 210 Million). The government is ‘unable’ to absorb a higher pay in co-financing GAVI’s funded vaccines.
On legislations or establishment of Kenya’s National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), he emphasized that parliament should make legal provisions for its establishment. CIVAC has been working with Division of Vaccines and Immunizations in this, but progress has been hampered by the lack of legal provision to back the establishment of a NITAG.
“Payment of Government of Kenya services via IFMIS that keeps bills increasing unnecessarily due to delays and Co-financing remittance delay to our account with UNICEF which procures vaccines on behalf of the government, also needs re-dressing”, he mentioned.
According to Dr. Maalim Dabar of Transition Authority, Immunization will remain a national function under the new devolved structure. However, the national government will work closely with the Country Governments on vaccines delivery and sharing operational cost. Dr. Honorable Eseli, reinforced the need for Kenya to rethink financing of the new and more expensive vaccines and legislation to enforce vaccination. He took issue with the need to form a strong lobby group in parliament to push for immunization issues as a key cornerstone in public health. “Ugandan parliament has formed such a lobby group”, Dr. Eseli noted.
Of interest was the discussion around the 170 cases of polio in the horn of Africa and the role of military in the delivery of public health services. With Military intervention, Somali has registered poor delivery and access of vaccination services, leading to high levels of disease susceptibility and outbreaks of polio. These outbreaks have seen polio transportation to Kenya, with now 14 cases confirmed and 2 related deaths. Situations of armed conflicts present handicaps in the eradication of poliomyelitis and outbreaks due to difficulties in accessing the susceptible populations.
GAVI has developed policy recommendations on “Immunization during Complex Emergencies’. However, these focuses more on GAVI internal mechanisms of supporting Immunization in complex emergencies, including countries experiencing armed conflicts. He noted the need for Medical team in KDF to also focus on offering vaccination services to Somalia children. Dr. Hon. Nyikal expressed the need to improve cross border surveillance. He noted that the committee is willing to work on specific immunization legislation or even amending the Health Bill to factor in immunization.
The other issue of focus during the meeting was the need for the country to legislate for Immunization and ensure a comprehensive legal framework on immunization touching on financing, access, role of government(s) are taken into consideration. Jack Ndegwa, the vaccine Development Advocacy Officer with Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium highlighted the importance of legislation as an important pillar in ensuring sustainable immunization financing. Presenting an Audit of immunization related laws in the current context; he noted that Kenya has inadequate Immunization legal provisions safeguarding financing mechanisms.
Dr. Hon. Mohammed Duale noted that the government needs to ensure that funding for Supplementary Immunization Activities especially Measles and Polio is given the adequate attention. For Measles SIAs, the government is expected to contribute 50% of the total cost, while the rest, 50% by development partners, a challenge experienced in 2012 that led to delays in campaigns hence the measles outbreak.
Concluding the meeting, the MPs agreed to support immunization draft bill and then liase with the cabinet secretary to present it in parliament and form a Parliamentary Lobby Group on Immunization, as in the case of Uganda.
For vaccine clearance, given the administrative nature of this challenge, the legislators proposed a short term solution in that the Ministry of Health prepares a brief paper stating the nature of the problem in detail, including all the certificates and letters required to clear the vaccines from the port of entry, and the period of artificial stock outs that can emerge. It was also agreed that the immunization law should specifically address how to expedite vaccines clearance at port of entry into Kenya.
The 1.5% Railway Levy on all Imports will be discussed in Cabinet meeting given that the tax is incurred by government. For Co-Financing and SIAs Campaign budget lines, the Division of Vaccines and Immunizations (DVI) should aim to ensure that these are applied for in the budget in time, and aggressively advocated for. Lastly, once parliamentary immunization lobby group is formed, the MPs shall will be releasing press statements on immunization issues and engage the media.
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