Banjul, 16 May 2013 -- The Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, this morning, hosted a press briefing at its headquarters in Banjul, the capital city of the Gambia, marking the official launching of African Vaccination Week (AVW). It will be recalled that the Gambia could not, for various reasons, join the rest of the continent in observing the 3rd edition AVW in April 2013 but today’s press briefing is construed as a demonstration of commitment to strengthening immunization services in the country.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Mrs Matilda Bouy, who deputized for the Honorable Minister of Health, reaffirmed this commitment in her launching statement, underscoring the conducive environment the Government has created for the health and well-being of the population in general and for immunization services in particular.

She emphasized the importance of immunization in protecting health and expressed her Ministry’s commitment to the AVW initiative, admitting that immunization has contributed to the reduction of infant and childhood morbidity and mortality since the inception of the Gambia’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) in 1979.

She said that the EPI programme has been performing very well over the years, by consistently maintaining high immunization coverage rates above 90% for all antigens and for registering 98%coverage for penta 3 in 2012. She applauded the World Health Organization, UNICEF, GAVI and other partners for their contributions towards this achievement.

For his part, the WHO Country Representative, Dr Thomas Sukwa, gave an overview on the rationale behind the AVW initiative, noting that “the annual implementation of this week serves as overarching framework for all initiatives that are dedicated to promoting the importance of immunization of all target age groups and universal access to this essential preventive intervention in all countries”.

Dr Sukwa used the occasion to highlight some of the achievements registered in the African Region in the delivery of immunization services. He said that the Region has registered an 89% reduction in measles mortality between 2000 and 2009; the elimination of maternal and neonatal tetanus has been validated in 30 countries by the end of 2012;all but one of the countries in the Region have introduced hepatitis B and Hib vaccines and the introduction of newer vaccines such as pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and rotavirus is being scaled up and a 63% reduction in the number of wild polio cases from 350 in 12 countries in 2011 to 128 cases in just 3 countries in 2012, to name but a few.

In conclusion, Dr Sukwa made a special appeal that as we celebrate this year’s and future AVW to pay greater attention to ensuring that our immunization status is up to date and that communities understand and demand immunization services. “Prevention is better than cure”, Dr Sukwa reiterated. Since vaccination is good for all, he said that we should all strive as children, adolescents, adults and senior citizens, to vaccinate to save lives and prevent disabilities.

The celebration took the form of synchronized community-based health education sessions, commonly known as “Open Field Days”, in all the country’s 7 health regions to raise awareness on the value and importance of immunization services, increasing vaccination coverage and uptake of new and existing vaccines. These sessions, held at strategic locations in all the regions, were attended by mothers, fathers, care givers, community leaders, government authorities and many other stakeholders.

Gambia commemorates African Vaccination Week

_________________________________________________________________

For more details please contact:

Mr. Momodou Gassama, Health Promotion Officer-9331961 Ext. 30805, Office: 00220 4462283/84/86

Mr. George Williams-Health Information Assistant-9900248 Ext.30808

The WHO Gambia Office, New Kotu Layout P.M.B 170, Banjul, The GAMBIA