Rotavirus vaccine on verge of being included in EPI

Islamabad

The Rotavirus vaccine, which can help prevent the deaths of 100 children per day in Pakistan, is on the verge of being included in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

According to sources, officials of the Ministry for Health are meeting later this week to approve the final application to the Global Alliance on Vaccination and Immunisation (GAVI) for inclusion of Rotavirus vaccine in EPI, the deadline for which is May 1, 2016.

The inclusion of the Rotavirus vaccine in EPI will offer protection to millions of children each year from this deadly disease. In March this year, a delegation headed by Anuradha Gupta, deputy CEO of GAVI, had assured local authorities that it will arrange funding to make Rotavirus vaccine part of Pakistan’s immunization programme.

According to a health expert, Rotavirus infection is the leading cause of severe diarrhea in young children worldwide; an estimated 527,000 deaths (out of 800,000 fatalities annually) occur due to diarrhoeal disease caused by rotavirus gastroenteritis. A majority of these deaths are reported in low-income African and Asian countries.

An estimated 140,000 infants in Pakistan suffer from severe rotavirus gastroenteritis, annually out of which, nearly 40,000 die each year. With more than 100 children losing their lives every day to this disease, Pakistan is one of the six countries that together account for nearly half of all rotavirus related deaths worldwide.

Globally, one in nine child deaths result from diarrhoeal disease during the first 5 years of life and diarrhea is the second leading causes of childhood morbidity and mortality.