THE Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo village of Aishalton has topped all other communities in Guyana for vaccine coverage for 2016, said Dr Ertenisa Hamilton, Director (ag) of the Maternal Child Health (MCH) department.
Guyana has over the last decade been recognised for 90 per cent country-wide vaccine coverage, and the hinterland community of Aishalton achieved 95 per cent coverage for last year.
In a statement to the media on Friday, the Ministry of Public Health said Dr Hamilton’s disclosure was made during a two-day visit to Aishalton during a visit by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Pan American Health Organisation/World Health Organisation (PAHO/WHO) and the Ministry of Public Health.
During their two-day stay, the foreign and local delegation congratulated and honoured health practitioners and the community on the achievement. Members of the foreign delegation comprised Dr Anuradha Gupta, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of GAVI; Maria Soledad Urrutia, Health Systems Specialist, PAHO/WHO, Washington DC; Sylvie Fouet, Guyana Representative, (UNICEF) and L Homero Hernandez, Senior Country Manager, Region of the Americas Country Programmes and Dr Janice Woolford, Specialist Family and Community Health, PAHO/WHO.
Dr Shamdeo Persaud, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), headed the MoPH team which also included Drs Hamilton and Roland Choyee, Regional Health Officer, Region Nine.
GAVI’s Dr Gupta during her brief remarks noted that each year, some 110 million children receive vaccines globally. “You can see that immunization does not require big hospitals and structure; you can give vaccine to a child, under a tree or an open space”, Gupta said.
Recent research has shown that vaccines help to improve the cognitive development of children, enabling them to concentrate for longer periods, thereby resulting in improved learning.
Immunisation, Dr Gupta said, has also helped prevent unnecessary contraction of diseases and deaths.
The GAVI Deputy CEO saluted the community for their hard work and emphasised GAVI’s commitment to supporting immunisation in Guyana. “We are extremely pleased that Guyana is a small country, but has shown very big will and a huge effort, because there is no new vaccine that Guyana has not introduced,” she stated.
Meanwhile, Dr Persaud spoke of the key role of vaccination for children and adults. “The visit is demonstrating to our partners how important…giving a vaccine is and how eager the parents are maintaining the health and well-being of their children”, he said.
Dorothy James, Deputy Toshao, Aishalton, pointed out that although the demographics of the region vary, the health workers and community continue to toil through ‘thick and thin’ to ensure that the community remains healthy.
“We commend our partners and say a great thanks for supplying vaccines free of cost,” James said
In the 1970s, vaccination targeted initially six diseases: measles, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria and tuberculosis. From 2001 to 2015, additional antigens were introduced which protected against yellow fever, hepatitis B, mumps, heamophilus influenza, rubella, rotavirus and pneumococcal and meningococcal The human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine was introduced as a pilot in 2012. Plans are in place for national introduction in 2017.
The continuous vaccination of persons has helped to shield the public from several vaccine-preventable diseases, the Ministry of Public Health stated, while noting that it has gradually moved from its childhood programme over the last decade to include adolescents, and now the entire family under the motto ‘Not any child or family left unvaccinated.’