4.5 million children under five targeted as Health Minister Chilengi launches Child Health Week in Lusaka

Health Minister Professor Roma Chilengi launched the 2026 Child Health Week in Lusaka on Monday, with a target of reaching 4,509,005 children under the age of five across the country. The week-long campaign brings basic health services to children who often miss out on routine care, and its theme this year is "Strengthening Community Health Systems: Closing the Last Mile for Every Child". Children who come forward will receive Vitamin A supplements and deworming tablets. Health workers will screen them for malnutrition using a mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) band, which measures the arm to show whether a child is underfed. Routine and catch-up immunisations will also be offered, and nine-year-old girls who qualify can receive the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which protects against the virus that causes most cervical cancer. Professor Chilengi described Child Health Week as a strategic public health intervention meant to speed up access to preventive and nutrition services for children who are often missed by routine services, particularly those who remain underserved because of distance, income, culture or weaknesses in the health system. He said children's health is the foundation of national development and of the country's human capital. The launch was attended by permanent secretaries from the Ministry of Health, UNICEF Country Representative Dr Saja Farooq Abdullah, World Health Organization Country Representative Dr Peter Clement Lasuba and other cooperating partners. The report did not give the exact start and end dates of the week or say which districts will carry out the campaign first. ## Why it matters For families in villages far from a clinic, or who cannot afford transport, a campaign that comes to the community can be the only time a child gets Vitamin A or is checked for malnutrition. Missed vaccinations and untreated worms in the early years can hold children back for life, and malnutrition is one of the main reasons children in Zambia