PH makes history against rotavirus

A couple of weeks ago, the Philippines made history as the first country in Southeast Asia to include rotavirus vaccine in its national immunization program.

Now this may not be the sort of headline-grabbing news that Filipinos usually expect but according to the stakeholders that made this possible, such inclusion would result in the dramatic decrease in the incidence of severe rotavirus gastroenteritis that kills at least 3,500 infants and young children in the country each year.

Rotavirus is the most common cause of potentially fatal severe diarrhea among children worldwide. Here in the Philippines, a study showed that the most affected would be those infants between 3 and 5 months old. The same study showed that due to rotavirus infection, 77 percent of Filipino toddlers will require intravenous therapy and longer hospital stay before reaching their 23rd month.

With the announcement, the Philippines becomes the latest in a select list—30 countries so far—which made a stand against rotavirus and the potentially deadly diarrhea that it causes.

“Filipinos may not readily realize this but this is certainly monumental news for a country where a lot of infants and toddlers are dying from diarrheal disease and prompt medical care is often out of reach. The addition of rotavirus vaccine in the country’s national immunization program could instigate a new era of reduction of childhood disease and mortality,” said Dr. Lulu Bravo, overall chair of the recently concluded 13th Asian Conference on Diarrheal Disease and Nutrition held in Tagaytay City.

The expanded immunization program is implemented in accordance to Republic Act 10152 or the Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunization Act of 2011.

Bravo, who is also Pediatric Infectious and Tropical Diseases professor at the University of the Philippines and Philippine Foundation for Vaccination executive director, added that rotavirus crosses borders and occurs regardless of geographic area, environmental conditions, and does not recognize socioeconomic status.

But while it occurs both in developed and developing countries, Bravo lamented that most deaths occur in developing countries where healthcare is less readily accessible and treatment is often limited.

Clustered

Rotavirus deaths are primarily clustered in the poor countries of Asia and Africa that have yet to adopt a universal rotavirus vaccination program. Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Nigeria in Africa as well as India and Pakistan in Asia accounted for more than half of all rotavirus-infection induced deaths worldwide.

With the inclusion of rotavirus vaccine in the Philippines’ national immunization program, the country steps closer to meeting United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Four Reduce Child Mortality, which aims to reduce under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015.

Administration of rotavirus vaccine should prove effective considering that in a study conducted by the United States’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, it was reported that before a vaccine was introduced in 2006, rotavirus in the United States was responsible for about 400,000 visits to doctor’s offices, 200,000 emergency room visits, 55,000 to 70,000 hospitalizations and 20 to 60 deaths each year in children under 5 years old.

However, by 2007-2008 period, the United States observed a 75-percent decline in rotavirus-related hospitalizations compared with prevaccine levels in children under 5 years old. In the 2008-2009 period, it was 60 percent.

The study further reported that vaccinated children had 44 to 58 percent fewer diarrhea–related hospitalizations and 37 to 48 percent fewer emergency room visits for diarrhea than unvaccinated children during the 2008 and 2009 rotavirus seasons (January to June).

The study estimated that about 65,000 hospitalizations of children under 5 years old from 2007 to 2009 were averted nationally with a healthcare cost savings of about $278 million.

Relevant

Bravo informed that the availability of the Rotavirus vaccine should prove helpful in the Philippines where a family typically spends P7,000 to P10,000 for a two-to-three-day confinement of their sick child,” Bravo said.

According to Health Secretary Enrique Ona, the department will start the campaign by providing free rotavirus vaccination to about 700,000 infants belonging to families listed under the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s National Household Targeting System.

Currently, there are two types of rotavirus vaccines that are being considered by the DOH for the program that is set to begin by April this year.