Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 11, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Thursday, Oct 11, 2007 ePaper |
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Tamil Nadu
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Chennai
Vaccine will help to bring down infant mortality It is very effective and has no side effects CHENNAI: Pending approval from the Centre, the State Government is geared to add one more vaccine to its paediatric immunisation schedule. If its plan goes well, children in Tamil Nadu will receive protection against meningitis too. “We have written to the Centre seeking approval to introduce Hib (haemophilus influenzae type b) vaccination in our schedule. It will go a long way in bringing down infant mortality rate,” A. Padmanabhan, Director, Public Health, said. He estimates that it would help to reduce infant mortality by at least 5-7 per cent. The Hib organism causes acute bacterial meningitis, leading to death among 20-30 per cent of those affected. Even among those who recover, 40 per cent sustain permanent brain damage and are rendered retarded, he says. The joints of the survivors are also affected by arthritis. If 35 in every one lakh children develop meningitis, five times that number develop broncho pneumonia. Detection difficultFurthermore, detection is difficult, with only limited diagnostic facilities available to identify bacterial meningitis. “We need to do a lumbar puncture, collect cerebro spinal fluid — a procedure that cannot be done in every laboratory,” he points out. The World Health Organisation has recommended the use of Hib vaccine to prevent meningitis and pneumonia. A team of doctors, including Mathuram Santosham, Director, Health Systems Program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, U.S., are involved in a study that will measure the burden of pneumonia and meningitis that can be prevented with Hib conjugate vaccine in India. Affecting children aged below five, this airborne infection spreads rapidly in crowded places and dwellings of the poor. While some infants exhibit the detectable symptoms, most develop poor feeding and fever. “If it is not detected, the disease accelerates rapidly and it is possible that the child will be dead the next day,” Dr. Padmanabhan says. The Hib vaccine is very effective and has no side effects, its efficacy proven by a decade-long use in the private sector, he says. It costs Rs.300 per dose, and three doses in the first 6th, 10th and 14th weeks are required, in addition to a booster dose at the 18th month. With bulk procurement, as the government intends to cover all 11.5 lakh children born every year, the price of a dose will come down to just about a dollar. In addition, there is an open offer from the Global Alliance for Vaccines Initiative to co-finance the project for 10 years. The Alliance is willing to bear 85 per cent of the cost. The advantage of this vaccine, Dr. Padmanabhan says, is that it provides ‘herd immunity’ — even if the State covers 60 per cent of babies born, it will protect all babies in the State. Also it will be a pentavalent vaccine, protecting a child from five diseases with a single shot.
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