Has your newborn been screened and received these jabs?
A nurse accompanies a young mother with her baby in the maternity ward of the Aga Khan Hospital in Kisumu, Kenya.
AKDN / Lucas Cuervo Moura
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Media Source: Business Daily (Kenya)
Date: 13 January 2022
Dr Syama is a Consultant Paediatrician at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. She writes that newborn screening identifies conditions that can affect a child’s long-term health or survival. Early detection, diagnosis, and intervention can prevent death or disability. With a simple blood test, doctors can check for rare…
Dr Syama is a Consultant Paediatrician at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. She writes that newborn screening identifies conditions that can affect a child’s long-term health or survival. Early detection, diagnosis, and intervention can prevent death or disability. With a simple blood test, doctors can check for rare genetic, hormone-related, and metabolic conditions that can cause serious health problems. Dr Syama also says that vaccines stimulate the body’s immune system to make antibodies which provide protection against many diseases. Vaccination is the safest way to protect children against infectious diseases. She notes that once children have been vaccinated, they should have the ability to fight off the diseases that they have been vaccinated against. Vaccines are therefore very important in reducing infant and child mortality.