Since its inception in 2012, Education Above All (EAA) Foundation has been living up to its motto by dedicating itself to educate children across the world, especially among the marginalised societies.
Through several initiatives and partnerships with international organisations, the EAA Foundation, established by H H Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, has changed the life of millions of children giving them a new hope in life and a prosperous future for their families and the communities. The EAA aims to contribute to human, social and economic development through the provision of quality education, so whatever is needed to provide access to education is also a concern for the Foundation.
The latest in this series of initiative in the past nine years is a project launched recently in partnership with the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunisation (Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance) for expanding the immunisation drive in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The projects aim to reach over half a million of the most marginalised people over the next two years. The drive is supported by Qatar Fund for Development. As part of EAA’s Educate A Child (EAC) programme and its ongoing education project with Save the Children Korea, the initiative in Ethiopia aims to support the country’s overarching target of 90 percent immunisation coverage at the national level and at 80 percent in each of the 11 targeted districts in host community and three refugee camps in the Gambella Regional State of Ethiopia.
The drive is aimed at increasing the number of HPV vaccination among girls with immunisation and for giving training in related fields to 995 adults over 12 months. The project in Kenya, which along with EAA’s ongoing education project with Unicef, will be implemented in 16 arid and semi-arid land counties in three zonal areas and urban informal settlements in Nairobi with high number of out of school children. The project aims to reach 257,400 girls in schools and out of school in Kenya over the next two years. As the saying goes only a healthy body can have a sound mind, children’s health is of paramount importance when it comes to education.
Immunisation will protect children from many life-threatening illnesses and which in turn will contribute to reducing out of school days for students. In some of the African countries such as Kenya, vaccine unavailability, low income, vaccine hesitancy, unavailability of healthcare workers, missed opportunities and lack of proper road infrastructure are some of the impediments in the way of inoculation. The new projects in Ethiopia and Kenya will give a new lease of life for millions of children who will be equipped with better health and education to continue in their march to a brighter future.
