By Kemo Cham
Ahead of the introduction of a Rubella vaccine in its national routine immunization program, Sierra Leone is due to commence a nationwide campaign to raise awareness and increase the chance of acceptance by the public.
The Rubella vaccine will be introduced in an integrated form with measles vaccines.
The Measles-Rubella Vaccine is a two in one vaccine used to vaccinate children from 0 to under 15 years against Measles and Rubella diseases. The two child diseases share similar features.
Measles is a highly contagious disease caused by a virus, and it is spread by contact with an infected person through coughing and sneezing. When one person has measles, 90 percent of the people they come into close contact with will become infected, if they are not vaccinated. The symptoms of measles include high fever, severe skin rash and cough.
Rubella, on the other hand, is generally a mild disease. But it can have serious consequences for pregnant women and their children. If infected with rubella in the first trimester women have a very high risk of giving birth to a child with Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS).
CRS often results in multiple birth defects including as heart problems, deafness and blindness.
The two diseases tend to display similar symptoms, hence the need to create a joint preventive measure.
Like measles, rubella can be prevented with a safe, effective and inexpensive vaccine. This can be delivered as a rubella vaccine alone, or combined with measles vaccine (MR) or with measles and mumps vaccines (MMR).
The Measles & Rubella Initiative was formed in 2000.
The Sierra Leone Ministry of Health said the upcoming campaign, which will last for seven days, will run from 10 June to 16 June 2019. A national launch is slated for the city of Bo, with similar smaller events planned for the other districts.
The Ministry said vaccinators will use the opportunity to vaccinate children who defaulted in the routine polio vaccination program. Vitamin A Supplementation/Capsule and deworming with Albendazole Tablet will also be provided in seven districts: Bonthe, Moyamba, Portloko, Kambia, Bombali, Wester Area Rural and Wester Area Urban.
For the Measles Rubella Vaccination, children between nine months and under 15 years will be target, while those under five years will be considered for the Polio vaccine. The Vitamin A Supplement/Capsule is for babies from 6 to 59 Months. Children from 12 to 59 months will be administered with the Albendazole Tablet, while babies from 0 to 23 months will be considered for defaulter tracing.
The campaign will be conducted in two folds. Vaccinators will target all government health facilities and temporary fixed posts in schools, markets, ranches (’Worrhes’), and any other public place with high presence of children. There will also be a massive effort at community mobilization, with community health workers and social mobilization personnel working with health facility teams of vaccinators to mobilize caregivers, mothers and communities to take their children to the nearest government health facilities to access the services.
The Health Ministry said it also plans to mount effective Social Mobilization backed with Public Information and Education to reach out to caregivers, mothers, communities and stakeholders with key messages on the benefits of the Measles Rubella Vaccination Campaign and to stimulate advocacy and ensure community participation, ownership and sustainability of the campaign.
As bulk of the primary target beneficiaries of the campaign are school going children, the role of stakeholders in the education sector, like teachers and school heads, is crucial for the success of the campaign.
Chief Health Education Officer and Programme Manager at the Health Education Division of the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Lansana Conteh, appealed to parents and other caregivers to take advantage of the campaign and not to deprive the children of the lifesaving vaccines.
“Immunization/Marklate is the right of every child, do not deprive them,” he said in a statement released by the Ministry, a copy of which was shared with Politico.
(c) 2019 Politico Online
