4.5 million small children, one week of care: Zambia takes vaccines, vitamins and check-ups to every under-five

Zambia's Health Minister, Professor Roma Chilengi, has launched the 2026 Child Health Week with a target that is simple to say and enormous to do: reach 4.5 million children under five with the care that keeps them growing. Across the week, children aged six to 59 months receive vitamin A, those from 12 months are dewormed, and every child in that range is screened for malnutrition, while girls aged nine and over get the HPV vaccine that protects against cervical cancer later in life. The push is aimed squarely at the children campaigns usually miss — those in rural and remote communities who fall behind on scheduled care. Under-five deaths in Zambia have fallen to 42 per 1,000 live births, yet one in five children still misses a critical vaccine before their first birthday. Chilengi's message at the launch went beyond the week itself: these services, he argued, should become part of everyday care, not a once-a-year event. World Vision Zambia has already moved about 900,000 vitamin A supplements and nearly four million deworming tablets to provincial centres, and UNICEF pledged to keep backing the system behind the week.

SDG 3 · Good health and well-being — Mechanism: institutional program