Haiti Puts Its Best Foot Forward in Battling Fatal Childhood Diseases

Haiti has begun a vaccination campaign against tetanus, and a virus that is behind severe, fatal diarrhea in children under the age of 5. This effort is part of their year long initiative in protecting children against childhood diseases. “To protect children against rotavirus is extremely important, especially in a place like Haiti where we also are seeing not a lot of high access to water and sanitation,” Dr. Carissa Etienne, newly appointed director of the Pan American Health Organization.

“This is the time when we draw attention to the importance of vaccinations and call on parents to bring their children to be vaccinated, and governments to invest in immunizations,” Etienne said.

The objective is to help save the lives of more than 250,000 children below the age of five against rotavirus. The initiative also seeks to protect women and children against tetanus.

“Too many babies and mothers are still exposed to maternal and neonatal tetanus in Haiti. Immunization rates in Haiti are quite disconcerting. It has quite a lot to do with the poor resources and limited funds, it’s also parents not being aware of the enormous value of immunizations.”



Source-Medindia