Kinshasa, April 30th, 2025 (CPA) – At the launch of African Vaccination Week, which runs from April 29th to May 6th; 2025, the Minister of Public Health on Tuesday called for the commitment of stakeholders involved in vaccination, with a view to reaching more children to prevent them from contracting certain diseases, CPA has learned from an official source.
‘I call on local authorities, community leaders, religious leaders, media professionals, civil society organizations and our partners to unite and take action to make this week, which runs from April 29th to May 6th, a time for reminders, solidarity and commitment to the health of all’, said Dr Roger Samuel Kouchner said Dr Roger Samuel Kamba, Minister for Public Health. ‘Thanks to the personal commitment of the Head of State, Félix Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, but also of the government as a whole through the Expanded Programme on Immunization, the support of our partners and the work of our everyday heroes… we are proud to tell you that we are working to ensure that no child is left behind, wherever they live’, he added.
‘That’s why the Mashako 3.0 plan has been put in place to strengthen our ability to better protect the health of our children and families, but also to consolidate our health system by guaranteeing equitable access to vaccination for all’, he added. The Health Minister pointed out that almost half of all deaths among children under five are caused by preventable diseases, and 41% of these deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr Kamba noted that this situation is not only dramatic, but also unacceptable. ‘It is for this reason that for the past 15 years, all African countries have been mobilizing during African Immunization Week to raise awareness, inform and mobilise people, decision-makers, scientists and all social and community players about the importance of prevention through immunization, one of the vital solutions for protecting human life, that of our children’, he explained.
The Minister pointed out that the DRC is one of the African countries with a large number of unvaccinated and under-vaccinated children, and the most affected by diseases such as polio, measles, yellow fever, malaria and Mpox. In 2023, he continued, the DRC recorded more than one million unvaccinated children under the age of one, and nearly 2 million had not received their third dose of vaccine. He noted that the security situation and population movements not only contribute to the spread of disease, but also limit access to certain areas where children and families are most in need of vaccines.