Voices from the field: tracking the global roll-out of pentavalent vaccine
Mrs Aziza, aged 30, takes her baby Hussain Dhorai to a Karachi health clinic in Pakistan to receive her pentavalent shot. Copyright: GAVI/09/Khalid Raja
Health workers, paediatricians, nurses and mothers from around the world comment on the introduction of pentavalent vaccine into their respective country’s national immunisation programmes.
PAKISTAN, January 2009
"I have come to realise that vaccination plays a very important role in preventing deadly diseases like pneumonia, which deprived me of one child last year. I know that there is a new vaccine now available at the government centre, which protects children against pneumonia and meningitis. I am here to ensure my baby gets this new vaccine today.”
“I do not want to see one of my children die again. I shall be telling my neighbours about this new vaccine.”
Mrs Aziza, aged 30, with her baby Hussain Dhorai, a resident of the Bin Qasim Town district, Karachi (Sindh province). One of Mrs. Aziza’s four children died from severe pneumonia in 2008.
BANGLADESH, January 2009
“Pediatricians in this country have been waiting for Hib vaccine for 10 years. It’s a dream for us that this vaccine is available for free, accessible for common people, now that it is in our routine immunisation programme.”
Dr. Ruhul Amin, a pediatrician at Dhaka’s Shishu Hospital writing on the day that Bangladesh formally introduced the Haemophilus influenza type B (Hib) vaccine into its national immunisation programme.
“The situation with Hib disease in Bangladesh is very grave, since drug-resistant strains are increasing, and to treat infection doctors must use expensive drugs, which are not readily available in most hospitals. This vaccine will prevent needless suffering, disability, and death.”
Dr. Samir Saha, Department of Microbiology.
AFGHANISTAN, 11 January 2009
Copyright: GAVI/09/Christina Banlutta
President Hamid Karzai led the official ceremony marking the introduction of pentavalent vaccine into Afghanistan’s national immunisation programme at the Presidential Palace in Kabul.
All of Afghanistan's 1,210 public health facilities will now provide newborn children with shots of the conjugate vaccine.
“GAVI support for the introduction of this expensive new vaccine represents a golden opportunity for preventing around 100,000 cases of Hib-related diseases and saving about 15,000 childrens' lives in Afghanistan.”
Dr. Fatimie, Minister of Public Health of Afghanistan.
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO, 29 January 2009
A generation of babies received the first shots of pentavalent vaccine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on 29 January.
This paved the way for a nationwide programme that will immunise an estimated three million newborn children against five life-threatening diseases.
Ahead of the introduction, meetings were held with pediatric staff and parents in each of the capital Kinshasa's five major hospitals to share data on childhood pneumonia and Hib.
CAMEROON, 4 February 2009
Copyright: GAVI/09/Barbara Etoa (WHO)
Large banners hanging over the entrance to the Okola clinic just outside Yaoundé announce the integration of the Hib vaccine into Cameroon’s expanded programme of immunisation.
The Minister of Public Health André Mama Fouda and representatives from GAVI partners WHO and UNICEF were present to mark the event.
A 2002-2005 study by WHO and the Chantal Biya Foundation (a children's hospital in Yaoundé), revealed that almost half of Cameroun’s bacterial meningitis cases are caused by Hib. Some 60 percent of babies aged two to 13 months are infected, leading to serious disabilities or even death.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, September 2009
Copyright: GAVI/09/Casimir Manengu (WHO)
As the Central African Republic (CAR) added pentavalent vaccine to its national immunisation card, GAVI partners launched a national advocacy campaign to raise awareness, both of childhood pneumonia and the benefits of vaccination.
Representatives from the Ministry of Health, WHO and UNICEF attended the official rollout ceremony.
See also
- Interactive guide: GAVI support for the Pentavalent combination vaccine
- Approved GAVI support
- 18 million Indian children to receive pentavalent, 12 August 2009
- Bangladesh introduces new vaccine, 15 January 2009
- First shot of pentavalent vaccine for the children of the Solomon Islands, 1 August 2008
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