PAHO/WHO commends Guyana immunisation gains

Apr 25, 2017 News

…as Vaccination Week begins

This year marks 40 years of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in Guyana. It is a programme of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), and the nations in the American region agreed upon during the PAHO Directing Council Resolution [DC25.R27] in 1977.
For over 40 years, PAHO/WHO has contributed to various milestones of achievements in the Americas including the eradication of small pox, polio and measles, as well as completed the switch from Trivalent oral polio vaccines to bivalent oral polio vaccines as part of the polio eradication plan for countries, introduced new vaccines to protect against influenza, respiratory illness and cervical cancer and established Vaccination Week in the Americas.
Guyana’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) was initiated in the late 1970s with vaccination against six diseases namely, measles, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, diphtheria and tuberculosis.
Added to this, the last case of yellow fever was in 1968 and the last case of polio was in 1962. Guyana’s success with its Immunization Programme was achieved through the strategies used to combat preventable diseases in children and through the hard work of its health care workers.
The Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) Assessment in 2014 rated Guyana’s EPI Programme as third out of the 75 Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization [GAVI] Countries.
Moreover, PAHO/WHO has congratulated Guyana for this achievement.
To date, the programme has introduced 17 antigens for the protection of the population against vaccine preventable diseases and national coverage is over 90 percent for all antigens under one year. This programme has expanded from a “child” immunization programme to a family immunization programme.
PAHO/WHO in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health will collaborate to mark the 15th Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA) campaign under the theme “Get Vax to celebrate a healthy tomorrow.” Vaccination Week in the Americas (VWA) is being commemorated during the period 22-29 April 2017.
Vaccination Week in the Americas is an extraordinary effort led by the countries and territories of the Americas to advance equity and access to vaccination. VWA activities strengthen the national immunization programmes by reaching out to populations with little access to regular health services, such as those populations living in rural and border areas and in indigenous communities
During vaccination week 2017, PAHO/WHO in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health will participate in a border launch in Nickerie, Suriname. The aim of the launch is to celebrate 40 years of EPI in the Americas by reviewing the challenges, achievements and future projections together.
Vaccination campaign activities will also be coordinated in the hinterland Regions One, Seven and Eight. Also a launch of the vaccination activities will be done in Moruca, Region One to raise awareness of the importance of vaccinations.
Given the vaccination gains that Guyana has made, PAHO/WHO Guyana Country office has extended congratulations to the dedicated staff of the National Immunization Programme “for a job well done in ensuring the protection of children and adults from vaccine preventable diseases and to encourage the public to get vaccinated, since the country is under threat of importation of yellow fever and other vaccine preventable diseases.”

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