The 2026 Child Health Week was launched in Lusaka on Monday 26 October by the Minister of Health, Professor Roma Chilengi, with a national target of 4,509,005 children under five, Zambia Monitor reported. The week-long campaign offers vitamin A supplementation, deworming, mid-upper arm circumference screening for malnutrition, routine and catch-up immunisation and, for eligible girls aged nine, the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer. The theme, according to the same report, is "Strengthening Community Health Systems: Closing the Last Mile for Every Child".
The Lusaka Times gives the age bands: vitamin A for children of six to 59 months, deworming from twelve to 59 months, and nutrition screening from six to 59 months. It reports that the Ministry estimates about one in five children missed a critical vaccine before their first birthday, and that under-five mortality now stands at 42 deaths per 1,000 live births. The campaign is aimed at children who missed scheduled interventions, particularly in rural and remote communities, and at those Zambia Monitor describes the Minister as calling underserved for geographical, socio-economic, cultural or health-system reasons.
Strengthening Community Health Systems: Closing the Last Mile for Every Child
— Theme of the 2026 Child Health Week, as reported by Zambia Monitor on Monday 26 October
From campaign to routine
Chilengi used the launch to argue that the services on offer should not depend on an annual push. The Lusaka Times reports him calling for a shift from campaigns to "routine delivery of essential healthcare services to ensure that no child is left behind", with immunisation, vitamin A, deworming and screening becoming part of daily health care. Zambia Monitor quotes him describing the week as "a strategic public health intervention" and linking children's health to human capital, educational attainment and long-term development.
The launch was attended by the Ministry's permanent secretaries, the UNICEF country representative, Dr Saja Farooq Abdullah, and the WHO country representative, Dr Peter Clement Lasuba, according to Zambia Monitor. The Lusaka Times reports Abdullah saying UNICEF would continue to support immunisation, breastfeeding promotion, nutrition and vitamin A supplementation, and the roll-out of the integrated reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and nutrition outreach package. World Vision Zambia transported the supplies to all provincial centres before distribution to facilities: about 900,000 vitamin A supplements and nearly four million deworming tablets, its strategy, impact and learning director, Ekwase Msoni, is quoted as saying.
Neither report gives the closing date of the week, the launch venue or a provincial breakdown of the target. The campaign runs while the country is also managing a cholera outbreak, reported separately in this edition; neither launch report mentions it.
Sources: Zambia Monitor, “4.5 million children targeted as Zambia marks Child Health Week” (26 Oct 2026); Lusaka Times, “2026 National Child Health Week Campaign Launched” (26 Oct 2026).