Measles control in Kenya: An evaluation of the measles campaign strategy and population characteristics

In 1978, the Declaration of Alma-Ata encouraged governments to strive toward "Health for All" (World Health Organization, 1978) by assuring all populations receive at least a minimum level of selective primary health care activities. Although immunization against major infectious diseases was among this vital list of activities, we continue to have major gaps in immunization services today with one-quarter of the world's children without protection from vaccine-preventable disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken a leadership role in providing direction toward a solution. The development and implementation of public health strategies has led to successful reduction of childhood mortality from vaccine preventable diseases. Among the strategies used are the mass immunization campaigns which provides "catch-up" (World Health Organization/PAHO, 1999) immunization coverage to a large percentage of children. In a short designated period, the mass immunization campaign begins the control and disease elimination process by increasing the proportion of children with immunity in a given population. Another strategy public health literature has found significant to any successful health implementation is the social mobilization of a community to accept and participate in the program. This descriptive, retrospective study focuses on evaluating the Measles Initiative's (MI) simultaneous mass campaigns in the provinces of Kenya in June 2002, and in particular, public health strategies used to achieve successful coverage rates and begin the elimination process of the vaccine-preventable disease measles in the region of Africa. Evaluation will focus on the implementation process of the MI campaign strategy, post-campaign impact data and population characteristics that were a consideration in the social mobilization process.