Vaccinations benefits outweigh side effects

Welcome to this week’s edition of Every Woman. There is a lot to read and learn from.

Even though children may react to vaccines by having high fevers or swellings where they are injected, what is important is that the benefits of vaccinations far outweigh the possible side effects.

When children are exposed to a vaccines their immune system, which is the body’s germ-fighting machine, is able to build up antibodies that protect them from diseases.

In my many interactions with the women who promote immunisation activities for under five children in rural areas, I learnt that the biggest fear for most mothers is that their children will feel unwell after receiving a vaccine.

Now with the several vaccines that children have to receive before reaching the age of five, some mothers choose to simply keep them away from the vaccines.

It is good to see that the women in the mother care groups featured on page 6 are able to enlighten other women on the importance of immunising their children and things are changing.

The best thing is that children are not getting as sick as before when they were not getting immunisation and under five mortality rates have now reduced, which is good for development.

Read more about these women and how their efforts are helping to increase the numbers of children getting immunisation according to schedule.

This week we also have an interesting cover feature on page 7 and 8, of a tennis player who is now helping others with the same passion in various ways through her foundation. Read more about her and be inspired. There is a lot that we can do for those around us with the little we have as you will learn from her story.

Another interesting thing on the supplement is the skill of a fashion designer who makes handmade fascinators which you can see on page 4.

I hope you will enjoy the read.