Key vaccines to be rolled out

The Ministry of Health will tomorrow launch the second phase of the vaccination against the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), a virus that causes cervical cancer.On Friday, it will also roll out the rotavirus vaccine that is administered to children to prevent diarrheal -related deaths. The ceremony will be held in Musanze and is expected to attract officials from GAVI Alliance and government officials.Following a record 97 percent coverage in the first phase of vaccination, the government has announced that it will conduct a nation-wide administration of the second phase of HPV vaccine to girls between Primary six and S3 on Thursday and Friday.130,000 girls are expected to be vaccinated in this phase according to Maurice Gatera, the head of vaccine preventable diseases in the Ministry of Health. The vaccine rollout programme which started in April last year, targets girls aged between 12 and 15. For the vaccine to be effective, each girl must receive three doses.Cervical cancer, which is caused by certain types of HPV, is ranked by the World Health Organisation as the leading cause of cancer deaths among women in Rwanda.Rwanda has a population of 2.72 million women aged 15 years and above who are at risk of developing the cancer. In a related development, a rotavirus vaccine for children to prevent diarrheal -related deaths will also be launch on Friday.The 128,500 doses of the vaccine were donated by GAVI Alliance and it is going to be the first time for this life saving vaccine to be administered in the country, and according to medics, it will significantly reduce the mortality rate of children as a result of diarrhoea.“Following the launch, we will put the rotavirus vaccine in our routine immunisation programme. We are putting too much attention to fighting diarrhea since it seems to be the second major child killer after neonatal related death.” Gatera added that almost 30 percent of diarrhoea causes are related to rotavirus. He added that, initially diarrheal related deaths among children ranked third after the neonatal and pneumonia, but since the introduction of pneumococcal vaccine in 2009, diarrhea seems to be occupying the second place as a major killer disease among children.It accounts for 19 percent of all deaths for children under the age of five and is a major contributor to child mortality.According to the Ministry of Health, over 100,000 children – preferably below the age of one – will benefit from the vaccine. Child mortality has dropped radically from 152 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2005 to 76 in 2010 and the number of children and their families living in poverty has decreased from 56% on 2005 to 44% in 2010.

National

Key vaccines to be rolled out