Rotavirus causes severe diarrhea and is often fatal in children before the age of five years.  It is a public health concern in developing countries, and the Seychelles is not an exception. The first infection is usually most severe with subsequent infections being milder. An effective vaccine administered to  infants could therefore save many lives.  However before introducing the vaccine, the knowledge of disease burden and of circulating genotypes is essential and can only be done through a network of effective supervision.

Seychelles embarked on the Rotavirus surveillance project in June 2013 as a pilot project. With the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the Rotavirus Sentinel Surveillance Program was established in January 2014 to obtain maximum benefit from Rotavirus Vaccination. As part of the processes to introduce the vaccine, data was obtained on disease burden and on the circulating genotypes. It is to note that evidence gathering is an important component in the introduction of any new vaccines.

Since January 2014, diarrheal stool samples were collected from children less than five years of age who were admitted in the Pediatric ward  as per  the WHO case definition for rotavirus diarrhea.  This was done to isolate the rotavirus strains, determine the prevalent genotypes in the pre-vaccination area and to assess the  burden of the disease prior to the introduction of Rotavirus vaccine.

Between January 2014 to December 2015, the Public Health Laboratory received 421 stools samples for rotavirus antigen detection. The samples were genotyped at the rotavirus Reference Regional Lab MEDUNSA, in South Africa. The result of the genotyping found that over one quarter (26.84%) of the stools collected and tested were positive for rotavirus. The most common genotype combination was G9P8.

The result of the data collected so far has shown that it is essential to introduce the rotavirus vaccine. The introduction of the vaccine will contribute greatly in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 targets of ending preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age. With the administration of Rotavirus vaccine into its routine immunisation schedule, Seychelles is aiming at decreasing the number of children presenting with diarrhea by vaccinating about 1500 children annually.

On the 23rd October 2015 the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Lion’s Club International officially launched the five years project for the introduction of the Rotavirus vaccine. Cable & Wireless is the main sponsor for this project. This private-public partnership is very encouraging as it is contributing to the sustainable financing for the EPI Programme in the Seychelles. At the Rotavirus Vaccination launching campaign ceremony, the Minister of Health Mrs Mitcy Larue thanked both organizations for the partnership and for supporting the Ministry for Health.  The Lion’s Club and Cable & Wireless company will sponsor a total of R1.8 million to this project. The investment has come at the right time because the MoH was planning the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in its national immunization program in 2016. The rotavirus vaccine will be introduced into the Seychelles immunization schedule with the first administration in the third quarter of 2016.

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For more information, please contact: 

Doreen Hotive (Mrs), NPO/HIP Officer, Tel: (248) 4224795, Fax: (248) 225754, Email:  hotived [at] who.int