A New “Shot” for Preventing Diarrhea and Addressing MDG4: Rotavirus Vaccine Introduction

Background:

Diarrhea kills approximately 1.3 million children each year, with rotavirus (a leading cause of severe childhood diarrhea) responsible for over 450,000 of these deaths in developed and developing countries. Rotavirus is estimated to cause approximately 25 million clinic visits and 2 million hospitalizations worldwide yearly. Countries in the Americas and Europe already use rotavirus vaccine in their routine immunization programs with significant success. Global partners, governments, and the GAVI Alliance have teamed up to support rotavirus vaccine introduction to a possible 40 developing countries in the coming years.

Approach:

This presentation will describe the new Decade of Vaccines global initiative and GAVI Alliance partnership support for increasing immunization coverage and worldwide introduction of new vaccines.  It will discuss rotavirus vaccine introduction, achievements, and how this is being integrated with other diarrhea prevention, protection and control efforts through partners globally and in countries (including use of a Communication Framework for New Vaccines and Child Survival that was developed by organizations like UNICEF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, JSI, PATH, WHO, USAID and others).

Results:

As of 2010, rotavirus vaccines have been successfully integrated into routine immunization programs in 28 countries.  In 2011, 13 additional countries were approved for GAVI support to introduce rotavirus vaccines nationwide.  These efforts are supported in developing countries using technical resources like the Communication Framework, with lessons learned from its application to pneumococcal vaccine introduction (for advocacy, social mobilization and communication) being adapted in countries such as Rwanda and Kenya.

Conclusion:

Rotavirus vaccines have been proven to be safe, effective, and acceptable to communities and are urgently needed in countries to reduce morbidity and mortality from diarrhea caused by rotavirus.  The integration of rotavirus vaccine into national immunization systems will have significant and measurable impact towards reaching MDG4.