31st May 2019 10:05:PM Editorials
Eastern Sentinel Arunachal News

The month of June is going to be highly crucial for Arunachal Pradesh since it is going to embark on a mission concerning the neonatal healthcare of newborns. District administrations are now making their last minute preparations for ensuring smooth implementation of   Rota Virus Vaccination programme in the state through a series of training workshops, meetings, door-to-door awareness campaigns etc.

Deaths of infants due to diarrhoea is common all over the world and is a cause of concern particularly for the developing countries where the overall healthcare structures are far too inadequate to address the issue comprehensively. In 2013, an estimated 215,000 infants died due to rotavirus globally  and in  India in that year alone, an estimated 47,000 rotavirus deaths occurred. Since then the current data shows that  the concern is far from over  as rotavirus accounts for nearly 40 percent of moderate to severe diarrhoea in children below the age of five resulting in approximately 78,000 deaths in the country. In response to the urgent need to prevent avertablediarrhoea episodes and their associated mortality, the World Health Organization has recommended that rotavirus vaccines must be included in immunization programs in all regions of the world, developed and developing alike. It thus needs little elaboration that rotavirus is a major cause of concern for the nation given its huge population and poor hygienic surroundings where a large segment of the infants are compelled to exist. To add to the woes, there is also lack of awareness among these parents who perceive it to be something trivial.

But thankfully, biomedical research has come a long way to find out a solution in the form of vaccine, which after prolonged clinical trials, is now very much a part of the overall vaccination plans delivered to children. In simple terms, rotavirus vaccine prevents diarrhoea virus from entering the body of the infant, averting a possible death and thus saving a precious life. In 95 countries where rotavirus vaccine has been introduced, a significant reduction in hospitalisation and death due to this virus has been observed. And 2015 will always be remembered as a landmark year in the medical history of India since it indigenously developed a rotavirus vaccine which is much cheaper than its imported counterpart. Since then more than ten states of the country have started the vaccination programme and are now in a much better position in taming the apparently petty yet lethal rotavirus.

And as it is making debut in Arunachal, extra care and effort must be taken to make sure that it reaches the remotest corner of the state and no infant is left out. 


Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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