The German government on Thursday announced additional funds of $128 million which will be supporting health and education programmes in the East African Community.
The majority of the funds will be going towards the EAC’s immunization programme.
The EAC Secretary General, Amb. Libérat Mfumukeko, and the Chargé d’Affaires of the Federal Republic of Germany, Jörg Herrera, jointly signed the Agreement in Arusha.
With the additional grant, the programme will be financing the procurement of at least four different types of vaccines for children in all six partner States of the East African Community.
The cooperation aims at reducing child mortality in the region and mainly targets newborns.
Speaking at the event, Amb. Mfumukeko thanked Germany for its continued support to the EAC and the integration process in general. Amb. Mfumukeko said the immunization programme in particular would go a long way in saving the lives of millions of children in the six EAC Partner States.
“The implementation of 2018 (Phase VI) which had a commitment of EUR 30 million (US$34.1) million has been fully concluded. The amount was fully disbursed to GAVI in December 2018 and spent on Pentavalent, Rotavirus and Pneumococcal vaccines in all EAC Partner States,” he said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
“Investing in the health sector is not only an investment for sustainable social development but also for a country’s and the region’s economic development. Vaccinations are a highly effective and cost efficient means to fight child mortality. The German Government highly commends the EAC’s efforts to immunize every child,” said Herrera.
To date, German Development Cooperation with the EAC has financed nearly 80 million doses of life-saving vaccines for the region since the support started in 2013 and the average immunization coverage in the region was substantially increased, making the EAC’s immunization programmes the strongest in Sub-Sahara Africa.
JK/abj/APA