Chronicle Editor
There was an impressive turnout of children for vaccination against typhoid, polio and cervical cancer.
In only nine days since the latest vaccination blitz started on May 24, 3 205 640 children aged under 15 had received the typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV), critical in preventing typhoid fever, a life-threatening disease that mainly affects children who consume unsafe water.
Also, 548 559 children had received the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) which helps children fight polio, also a life-threatening disease. In terms of the human papillomavirus (HPV), 200 624 and 119 183 girls had got dose one and dose two of the vaccine respectively.
Girls who get a HPV vaccine have their risk of suffering from cervical cancer greatly reduced. Also 817 038 children had received vitamin A supplementation, important in reducing cases of deficiency of this essential vitamin.
The final totals should have increased by the scheduled end of the blitz on Friday.
Typhoid, caused by bacteria called salmonella typhi is a dangerous disease that tends to target children, causing deaths in many of them.
Cases of the disease were reported over the past few months in Bulawayo, Harare and Gweru — three cities that are struggling to provide clean and safe water to their residents.
Polio is a killer disease as well and it affects children. On the other hand, cervical cancer is the most common and the leading cause of death from cancer in women. Official statistics indicate that in 2016, it accounted for 33 percent of the cancer burden in women and 12 percent of deaths from malignancies in women in the country. If a girl gets the HPV vaccine they stand a good chance of fighting off the disease later on in their lives when the infection typically manifests.
Vitamin A deficiency is very common in Africa, Zimbabwe included. Vitamin A deficiency can cause blindness. It can also increase the risk of serious, sometimes fatal, infections. Early symptoms include night blindness, dry skin and frequent infections. Treatments may include supplements and intake of a balanced diet.
The diseases targeted under the latest vaccination campaign are indeed serious. Without vaccination, hundreds of thousands of children would suffer, some of them losing their lives.
Because the diseases for which the vaccination were given are life-threatening, we applaud parents for bringing their children to health centres and schools around the country for vaccinations against them. Their children would be healthier and be able to reach their full potentials in life.
While vaccination is essential, we urge parents and local authorities to also take other measures to complement the jabs. The typhoid cases that have been reported in Bulawayo, Harare and Gweru in recent months have been, as we have indicated, because the local authorities are not providing enough water to their residents regularly and when they do, the water is dirty. Cases have been reported in some rural areas as well where people are consuming water from shallow wells, streams, rivers and so on. We urge the Government to intensify its borehole drilling agenda in those areas so that people consume clean, safe water at all times.
Boiling water before consumption cannot be overemphasized in the fight against typhoid. This applies to our people in rural and urban areas.
Talking about Vitamin A deficiency, we know that some people struggle to ensure that their children have balanced diets because of poverty. However, they must fight hard to feed their children properly noting that nutritious food is not always expensive. Leafy vegetables, sweet potatoes and mangoes which are among the key sources of Vitamin A can be easily grown everywhere across the country. We thus implore our people to eat healthier, knowing the cheaper, traditional foods are actually the best in fighting off many infections including Vitamin A deficiency.
We have to point out that, although the blitz ended on Friday, vaccination against all child diseases is an ongoing exercise. Therefore, parents with children who missed the exercise over the past two weeks will be happy to take their kids to their nearest health facility for them to get their jabs.
It is encouraging that so many children were inoculated against polio, cervical cancer, typhoid and Vitamin A deficiency in only nine days.
If the parents who brought their children forward could themselves rush for Covid-19 vaccination that would be great. We are saying this because there has been considerable Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy among some of our people since the ongoing blitz started in February. Yes, demand has been rising resulting in stock-outs in places like Bulawayo, but we will not tire to urge our people to overcome their unfounded fears and get the Covid-19 vaccine so that they are protected against the lethal disease and so that the country can attain herd immunity.
Online Reporter