14 DAY TRIAL // A new health Pakistani initiative could provide several thousand infants with a chance to survive each year. Currently, 10 percent of all children aged under 5 die in the country, due to diseases that can be controlled through vaccination. The Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) bacterium is one of the most dangerous pathogens, causing pneumonia and meningitis, which kill about 92,000 children in the developing nation yearly.
These statistics prompted Hib Initiative director, Dr. Rana Hajjeh, to push for governmental intervention. "The government's decision to introduce Hib-containing pentavalent vaccine will protect millions of infants against some of the most dangerous childhood infections, including one of the major causes of pneumonia and meningitis," she said.
"This is excellent news for generations of Pakistani children and their families. Pakistan is the largest country to date of all developing countries to introduce Hib vaccine into their national immunization program," Hajjeh added. The drug will be incorporated into a pentavalent substance, a 5-way therapy that will also decrease the risks for 4 other terrible childhood diseases, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and hepatitis B.
GAVI Alliance Policy Director Nina Schwalbe, added "The introduction of the pentavalent vaccine represents a major stride toward enabling Pakistan's 160 million inhabitants to make further progress towards the MDGs," referring to the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) that the nation agreed on reaching until 2015. Although the chances of that happening are still slim, the fact remains that at least now there is a way of averting countless loss of lives each year.
"The GAVI-supported vaccine has virtually eliminated Hib meningitis as a public health problem in Uganda. Other African countries like the Gambia, Kenya and Malawi are also reported to have seen tremendous decline. We are hoping to see similar successes in Pakistan and in other countries where the vaccine is being introduced," concluded Schwalbe.