Email Gambia News to a friend
Print version
Comment on This Gambia News

The Gambian Ministry of Health Tuesday introduced a new vaccine, called the Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV-7), under its Expanded Programme on Immunization, as part of its routine immunization services to help protect children against pneumococcal disease and meningitis.

This was revealed at a press conference here held to update the public on the country's preparation and progress for the upcoming PCV-7 introduction in order to solicit support for advocacy and sensitization.
The vaccine was first introduced in the Gambia in April 2009 by the Ministry.
The vaccine, which is stored in a minimum of 2 to 8 degree centigrade, is being well kept in hospitals and health centres across the country with the required facilities.

According to the ministry, the PCV-7 campaign will commence in full on Wednesday in all hospitals and health centres.A study conducted in the Upper River Region of the country revealed that 500 out of 100,000 live birth records death toll of one per cent.The Gambia is the second country in Africa to introduce the vaccine.A full series of the 7-valent conjugate PCV vaccine is said to be 97 per cent effective in preventing invasive pneumococcal disease caused by the seven types of the pneumococci contained in the vaccine.

"The vaccine is 89 per cent effective in preventing invasive disease caused by all strains of the pneumococci and reduces the incidence of ear infection by 10 per cent."The Director of Health Services, Dr. Bekai Camara described pneumococcal disease as a leading infectious killer of children and adults worldwide.

Camara said the disease killed up to one per cent of children born in high mortality areas and cost health systems and households a lot in terms of acute care and cost."Pneumococcal meningitis and ear infections leave survivors with hearing loss and learning disability and 50 per cent of surviving children with life-long disabilities that impede economic productivity," he said.

According to him, the disease kills more children than any other disease; it causes nearly one in five deaths of children under the age of five worldwide.He said that one in four children in developing countries who contacted and survived pneumococcal meningitis are left with serious disabilities, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, brain damage, kidney disease, deafness, limb amputations and developmental delays.

Camara disclosed that vaccination of infants reduces the spread of pneumococcal bacteria so that adults have less contact with pneumococci and are thus indirectly protected from pneumococcal disease, a public health phenomenon known as herd immunity.