Two vaccines to save children’s lives

By Rebecca Kwei Two vaccines that will save thousands of children in Ghana from dying as a result of diarrhoea caused by the rotavirus diarrhoea and pneumonia will be introduced in the country next month. The vaccine for rotavirus diarrhoea, known as the rotavirus vaccine, has proven to reduce severe diarrhoea in children in countries where it has been introduced while that for pneumonia is the pneumococcal vaccine (Prevenar 13). In Ghana, next to malaria, diarrhoea and pneumonia are the second cause of mortality for children under five. Rotavirus is the most common cause of severe diarrhoea. Worldwide rotavirus kills nearly half a million children each year and more than 85 per cent of these deaths occur in developing countries. In Ghana rotavirus infection is responsible for 39 to 58.9 per cent of diarrhoeal cases in children. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has since 2010 recommended that rotavirus vaccines be introduced into every country’s national immunisation programme. In an interview with Prof George E. Armah of the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, he said the combined effect of the two vaccines would save thousands of Ghanaian children from dying needlessly. On rotavirus he said it was a common infection in Ghana with most children being infected with at least one infection by the age of 12 months and 60 per cent of hospitalised children with severe diarrhoea excreted rotaviruses. Rotavirus infection which is associated with vomiting, severe watery (non-bloody diarrhoea) and severe dehydration, is seasonal with the peak infection occurring during the months of November to February in Ghana. According to Prof Armah, without access to treatment for the severe dehydration rotavirus can cause, it can be a death sentence since the dehydration caused by the virus can kill babies who do not receive treatment within a few hours. He explained that rotavirus was extremely contagious and although hand washing and improved sanitation had helped reduce the incidence of diarrhoea, the proportion of diarrhoea due to viruses had not been reduced hence the need to introduce the rotavirus vaccine. “Improvement in hygiene, sanitation and drinking water which prevent other forms of diarrhoea do not prevent rotavirus infection. The only intervention available is by vaccination and it offers the best protection” Prof Armah emphasised. The pneumococcal vaccine is to protect against severe forms of pneumococcal disease such as meningitis, pneumonia and bacteraemia. The risk of serious pneumococcal disease is highest in the first year of life but remains throughout the first 24 months of life. Health experts say vaccinating against pneumococcal disease is a cost-effective way of preventing the disease and can reduce substantial mortality and morbidity in under served populations in developing countries.