Re: Indian Health Care Industry
Posted: 05 Nov 2009 08:27
Measles, two-dose regimen a must
Excerpts
Excerpts
India has failed in controlling measles, an infection that afflicts children. According to mathematical modelling, nearly 1,30,000 deaths happen every year. This has been the main conclusion of a three-day consultation held recently and submitted to the government.
Though the government has projected only 35,000 to 60,000 suspected measles infections for the last decade, the WHO’s mathematical modelling, based on more data from the six States of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal, has come out with a more realistic estimate.
The primary reasons for the high incidence is inadequate immunisation and poor surveillance. Except in the six States, where the immunisation coverage is above 80 per cent, all the other States have poor coverage.
Added to this is the fact that the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing infection is only about 85 per cent. “So 15 per cent of children will still be susceptible even when all the children are immunised with a single dose,” said Dr. Manish Kakkar, Public Health Specialist (Infectious diseases) at the Delhi based Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI). The Public Health Foundation organised the consultation.
The only way to bring the infection under control and finally eliminate it is by going for a second dose of the vaccine. The single dose of the vaccine is currently given to children when they are 9-12 months old.
“It is well proven that it is possible to bring down mortality if you sustain the second strategy,” said Dr. Kakkar. In fact, the two-dose regimen was recommended by the WHO about three years ago.
The good news is that the two-dose regimen will soon become a reality in some of the States.
One of the reasons for the poor measles coverage is ignorance and misconceptions about the infection. Though rashes subside, the infection can cause other complications such as pneumonia and diarrhoea that could be life threatening. “People are unable to relate such deaths to measles,” said Ganguly. “That is the reason why the community does not perceive measles as a life threatening disease.”