Online Reporter
The Herald, 13 May 1986
NURSES should be in the forefront in immunisation of children against the world’s six killer diseases, the executive director of Unicef, Mr James Grant said yesterday.
Addressing nurses at the Godfrey Huggins School of Medicine to mark Florence Nightingale week, he said: It is the nurses that are at the core of the health profession and they as group have decided universal immunisantion should become a fact not rhetoric.”
He commended Zimbabwe’s great progress in health programmes in the past few years. He said doctors, teachers and nurses should join hands with the entire community to immunise children against measles, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio and tuberculosis.
About five million children were dying throughout the world from diarrhoea because mothers were not aware of dehydration and he urged nurses to teach the mothers who came to the clinic about dehydration.
He said it was also the duty of about child duty of nurses to teach mother about child spacing and breast-feeding for as long as possible as a pre-requisite for the health of both themselves, and their children.
Mr Grant said there had also been changes in world health technology. Vaccines had become better and more usable, tremendous expansion in world paramedical personnel (untrained people) in rural areas had taken place and electronic media for health education were playing an important role.
About 5000 Red Cross volunteers will be knocking on Zimbabwean doors this week to pass the word on the importance of immunisation.
Parents of children under five will be asked to sign pledge forms promising to have their children immunised against common childhood diseases, diseases which can kill and maim.
Lessons for today
- While major progress has been made in child health, the core message that timely prevention, community education, and frontline health workers save children’s lives is still true.
- Then (1986) Mr James Grant stressed immunisation against six killer diseases measles, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, polio and tuberculosis.
Today these same vaccines still form the backbone of global immunisation programmes.
- Deaths from polio have dropped by over 99% worldwide. Measles, tetanus, and diphtheria deaths have fallen dramatically where vaccination coverage is high. However, children still die when vaccines are delayed, refused, or unavailable then outbreaks still occur when immunisation rates fall.
- Nurses remain the backbone of child health systems. They are still the first point of contact for mothers and children, central to immunisation, growth monitoring, and maternal education. They are vital in rural and underserved communities where doctors are scarce.
- Then, five million children were dying yearly from diarrhoea due to dehydration. Today deaths have declined significantly but diarrhoea remains a leading cause of child mortality, especially where clean water, sanitation, and education are lacking.
- Nurses were urged to teach mothers about breastfeeding and child spacing. These practices are still strongly recommended by global health authorities.
