KAYANZA, March 26th (ABP) – The First Lady of Burundi, Angeline Ndayishimiye, was present On Friday 21 March 2025, in the Gahombo zone and commune of Kayanza province (in the extended province of Butanyerera), to raise public awareness of the importance of vaccinating children from birth to the age of 18 months, and of the all-out fight against monkey pox, commonly known as “Mpox”.
The Governor of Kayanza province and the administrators of its communes, the representative of the ministry in charge of health, the representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the wife of the President of the National Assembly, the MPs elected in the constituency of Kayanza, and many others took part in those awareness-raising activities.
In her opening remarks, the First Lady said that she had visited Gahombo to assess, together with the people of Kayanza province in general and Gahombo commune in particular, the state of child immunisation in line with the immunisation schedule set by the Ministry of Public Health and AIDS Control.
She pointed out that the statistics from the Ministry of Health showed that the country had reached a satisfactory stage in terms of child immunisation, enabling children to be protected against a number of diseases that could damage their health or cause death. Nevertheless, she lamented, it was noted that some health regions are still lagging behind if we take into account the objective that the country has set itself in terms of child immunisation.
Given that the commune of Gahombo is one of the health regions with a low number of vaccinated children, the First Lady encouraged parents to redouble their efforts by having their children vaccinated, in line with the Ministry of Health’s schedule, which is constantly being publicised by health units and community health workers.
She called on everyone to get involved, for the good health of all the children who are the leaders of tomorrow, and for the commune of Gahombo to take the lead in the entire health province.
As for parents who do not have their children vaccinated because of their beliefs, First Lady Ndayishimiye asked administrative staff, journalists, various organisations and associations, leaders of religious denominations and community health workers to act as scouts for vaccination by taking the lead in carrying out that call before instilling it in others.
Taking the opportunity to reveal that the vaccine against cervical cancer will soon be available, the First Lady encouraged young teenage girls to take up the vaccine en masse for the sake of their health.
In light of the above, she encouraged the entire population to fight monkeypox by washing their hands with soap and avoiding debauchery. Finally, she thanked the WHO representative, who continues to stand by the Office of the First Lady for the Development of Burundi (OPDD-Burundi), and who has contributed a great deal to the success of the awareness campaign.
The campaign to raise public awareness of child immunisation and the fight against monkeypox ended with a donation of loincloths to participants, especially women, who answered questions about child immunisation well, and to women who followed the child immunisation schedule. Soaps, boxes of porridge and footballs were also given to boarding and day schools, as well as sanitary towels for girls attending school. The First Lady herself awarded envelopes to two young drummers for their performance, and encouraged them to keep going.