Pacific children get health boost with government immunisation commitments

Pacific children get health boost with government immunisation commitments

29 April 2024 – Nine Pacific countries have committed to greater protection for children against life threatening diseases by adopting an immunisation program that has been implemented by UNICEF in collaboration with Ministries of Health and funding from Rotary since 2020.

The commitment will see vaccines for Pneumococcal Disease, Rotavirus, and Human Papillomavirus (HPV) added to the nations’ National Essential Programs for Immunisation. The adoption of the vaccines will benefit children in Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Nauru, Niue, Tokelau and Kiribati.

UNICEF Pacific’s Representative, Jonathan Veitch says immunisation is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions to date and has safely reduced the scourge of diseases, helping children grow up healthy and happy.

“We thank Rotary and the Pacific Island governments for their critical long-term partnership with UNICEF to protect children and young people from vaccine-preventable diseases. Especially in this region where pneumonia and diarrhoea are among the Pacific’s top childhood killers,” he says.

In the Pacific, pneumonia and diarrhoea are among the top three causes of mortality in children under five years of age, while around one-third of all pneumonia deaths are due to pneumococcal disease.

Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrhoea in children aged less than five years. Severe diarrhoea can lead to dehydration, particularly in young children, and if left untreated can be life-threatening.

With a high burden of cervical cancer cases in the Pacific, most of which are attributed to HPV infection, the introduction of HPV vaccine in adolescent girls will contribute to the reduction of preventable deaths.

UNICEF will continue to support routine immunisation programmes in the Pacific Island Countries, including through strengthening effective vaccine management practices, engaging communities to create vaccine demand, and the procurement and delivery of quality and effective vaccines at an affordable cost to the governments.

Since the Rotary ‘Give Every Child a Future’ project’s inception it has supported the countries to strengthen the supply chain, including the cold chain system to ensure that every child has timely access to safe and potent vaccines.

Delivering vaccines to the most remote islands and communities in itself is a task for healthcare workers in the Pacific. They have to climb mountains, cross rivers, ride horseback and use boats to reach every child with vaccines.

Incoming Rotary International Programmes Committee Chair Becky Giblin says that despite the challenges, a forward-thinking and prevention-over-cure approach is vital for better health outcomes among Pacific tamariki.

“Creating awareness and implementing systems that mean we can roll out programmes like this in remote areas is extremely important, especially for the Pacific region where we must work to take the pressure off a very overwhelmed medical system,” she says.

“Rotary and UNICEF both take a long-term approach in their projects and are on the ground doing everything they can to help provide vulnerable children with things that are taken for granted in other places.

Children in Australia and New Zealand have had the benefit of free routine immunisation programmes for years and we know how critical preventative care is for infants and children. There is still work to be done so we must continue to raise awareness and educate people about the importance of projects like Give Every Child a Future”.

UNICEF Aotearoa Head of Strategic Partnerships Frances Wells says vaccines are considered to be one of the most cost-effective interventions to increase child survival.

“Together with our partners, UNICEF reaches almost half the world’s children with lifesaving vaccines. At UNICEF Aotearoa we’re extremely grateful for our partnership with Rotary, which ensures thousands of children across the Pacific have the opportunity to grow up healthy and happy”.

To date, fundraisers from Rotary have contributed US$3.9 million, through the project implemented by UNICEF, in cooperation with the nations’ Ministries of Health and supported by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

UNICEF remains committed to ensuring that all children and adolescents have good health, wellbeing and reach their full potential.