Regional health workers study immunization
News on the health front in Belize is usually mixed; that is for every advance in the quality of care there seems to be a corresponding setback. But one area where the news has been consistently upbeat is in the battle against childhood diseases. News 5’s Jacqueline Woods has more.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Ninety-five percent of Belizean children under two years old have been vaccinated against major childhood diseases such as tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps, rubella and hepatitis B. This major medical accomplishment was due largely to an intensive nationwide campaign that this year, for the first time, targeted the adult male population. According to the Director of Health Services in the Ministry of Health, Doctor Jorge Polanco, the strategy has allowed them to continually improve the country?s immunization coverage.
Dr. Jorge Polanco, DHS,MOH
?The MMR campaign was a highlight this year where we targeted all the country. We targeted all males from five to thirty-five years old to complement an initiative that we have started before which was to vaccinate all females against rubella. So the first thing is we have coverage against adults, against rubella and in directly we are preventing what we call the congenital rubella syndrome, which is a problem could come out–let?s say the pregnant woman was not protected with a vaccine and she get?s infected with rubella, her child would suffer what we call the C.R.S., which could be fatal. SO that is something that we managed to do this year. We had a very good outcome.?
The positive result will be shared among Caribbean managers of immunization programmes who are presently meeting in Belize to review each country?s progress. The three day meeting, which got underway this morning, includes the participation of public health nurses, physicians, paediatricians and health professionals.
Dr. John Andrus, Chief, Immunization Unit, PAHO,Washington,D.C
?It?s a meeting that brings together all the managers of the national immunization programmes of the countries in the area of the Caribbean. It?s supported by the Pan American Heath Organisation and traditionally has been a form where people discussed the process in immunization and in controlling and eliminating vaccine preventable diseases.
?During this meeting, the managers also meet to develop their national plans of action that would carry them over the next year.?
As explained by Head of the Pan American Health Organisation?s Immunization Unit in Washington, D.C, Doctor John Andrus, two of the challenges Caribbean countries face are the sustainable motivation of people and the access to communities.
Dr. John Andrus
So that the families, the communities know that immunization is one of the most effective, one of the most cost beneficial intervention that we have and it is a public good that immunization protects their children, which is something that they should strive for. So that knowledge coming from families in the communities is one of the better ways of supporting the immunization programme.?
At the end of the evaluation of the ongoing immunization programmes for preventable diseases, the delegates will come up with a work plan and regional budget that will be used to submit to funding agencies. Jacqueline Woods for News 5.
The twenty-first meeting is being coordinated by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre, CARECt, a specialized agency of the Pan American Health Organisation that deals with the prevention, surveillance and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.