Pneumonia Vaccine for Infants is Imminent, NPHCDA Says

The Executive Director of National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), Dr. Ado Gana Mohammed has said that nationwide availability of pneumonia vaccine for infants would be in place by August. He made this known in a recent interview with the Guardian, as his agency furthers commitment to reducing exposure of infants to the condition. He said, “Nigeria has made progress on tackling childhood killer diseases with vaccines. We have developed immunisation strategy. What it means is that Nigeria is definitely making progress and we are beginning to see some return on investment. We are making some progress in terms of immunisation agenda. We are beginning to see some progress in terms of uptake and coverage. Also, we are going to introduce PCV in August-September this year.” A consultant pediatrician at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) Idi-Araba, Dr. Taiwo Ladapo also said, “If you add the number of children that die from malaria and Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV), pneumonia kills more than HIV and malaria combined globally as of today. So generally, control of pneumococcal disease is a major priority. Nigeria has a very high burden. It is said that about three quarters of all the episodes of pneumonia in the world occur in just about 15 countries, this is data from about two years ago. And Nigeria is one of the country’s top on that list so pneumococcal diseases are very significant.”

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This article was first published on 30th April 2013

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