NAIROBI, November 3, 2009 – As the world observed the first annual pneumonia day, Kenya is set to stock pneumonia vaccine to all public health centers early next year.
The drive is part of the UNICEF and World Health Organisation (WHO) efforts to fight pneumonia that kills more than two million under age five children every year.
Speaking at celebrations to mark the inaugural World Pneumonia Day, Head of Division of Vaccination and Immunisation at the Medical Services Ministry Dr Tatu Kamau said the three pneumonia vaccines available in the country have previously only been accessible at private hospitals.
“It is too costly for the government to have the vaccines in our hospitals, but we hope in 2010 January we will discuss with donors to help us meet the costs,” she said.
Dr Kamau said the government required KShs 2 billion every year to sustain the vaccination programme in public health centers.
She said the government had already set aside cold rooms, depots and considered other necessary requirements in readiness for the vaccine.
UNICEF and WHO called on country governments to implement life-saving pneumonia interventions for those those that need them most as the World Pneumonia Day was marked in 53 other countries on the globe, aimed at addressing the growing pneumonia infections and mortality rates in children.
The Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia (GAPP), released November 2 by WHO and UNICEF, outlines a six-year plan for the worldwide scale-up of a comprehensive set of interventions to control the disease.
Countries are urged to implement a three-pronged pneumonia control strategy that:
1. • protects children by promoting exclusive breastfeeding and ensuring adequate nutrition and good hygiene;
2. • prevents the disease by vaccinating them against common causes of pneumonia such as Streptococcus pneumoniae (pneumococcal disease) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib); and
3. • treats children at the community level and in clinics and hospitals through effective case management and with an appropriate course of antibiotics.
According to UNICEF and WHO, pneumonia kills more children than HIV/AIDS, measles and malaria combined.
The estimates further show the disease claims more than 5,500 children per day in developing countries alone.
The statistics also revealed that of children outpatients, 65 percent suffer from respiratory complications with 25 percent being confirmed to be pneumonia.
Reports further show that in sub-Saharan Africa, 98 percent of pneumonia deaths occur.