NEW THIS FRIDAY: INTRODUCTION OF HIB VACCINE IN TWO INDIAN STATES

Thursday, 18th of July 2013

INTRODUCTION OF HIB VACCINE IN TWO INDIAN STATES

INDIAN PEDIATRICS 709 VOLUME 49__SEPTEMBER 16, 2012

GUPTA, et al. INTRODUCTION OF HIB VACCINE

Excerpt below; full text is at http://www.indianpediatrics.net/sep2012/707.pdf

Lessons from the introduction of Hepatitis B vaccine in 10 states of India in 2007-08 illustrated the immunization system strengthening opportunities that introducing a new vaccine affords. Likewise, the introduction of LPV

has been used to strengthen Kerala and Tamil Nadu immunization systems by training/re-training health personnel on proper injection techniques, assessing and correcting existing cold chain problems, improving program monitoring and supervision, and enhancing reporting of adverse events following immunization.

In addition, pre-introduction training phase emphasized the importance of maintaining sufficient stocks of monovalent Hepatitis B and DPT vaccines to ensure the application of birth-dose and DPT booster (at 16-24months and 5-6 years of age).

Moreover, the introduction of Hib-containing pentavalent vaccine offers poorer families the opportunity to provide the same life-saving protection to their children as wealthier families who can afford vaccine services in the private sector. Therefore, the introduction of Hib vaccine, free of cost in the government system, helps to ensure equity in health service availability – astated objective of Indias National Health Policy [15].

From a public health perspective, this is not a trivial issue: Hib is one of the leading cause of bacterial meningitis in India and a major cause of childhood

pneumonia, the largest killer of Indian children less than 5 years of age. It is estimated that Hib disease prevention through vaccine use has the potential to reduce Indias under-5 mortality rate by 4 percentage points. The introduction of LPV in India is a major milestone and a step forward to accelerate child survival in India, and progress towards achieving national health goals and Millennium Development Goal 4.