Importance of Rotavirus Vaccination

I was happy to secure a slot for a health awareness conference (Rotavirus Vaccine, to be exact) which I just attended yesterday in Ayala Mall, Cebu City. It was a great event since I didn’t just learned a lot from the said topic but as well, I was also challenge to note things that should be done and those not to. Anyway, I’m going to share to you what we have tackled in there.

The event was emceed by Mr. Coby (actually, I forgot what is his complete name and neither I am sure of his name as well. Sorry for that though) and which was also organized by Mr. Jeff Tan (the Director for Strategic Marketing Communications of Idea Buffet). The said conference was discussed to us by Dr. Juliet Aguilar with the help of the other Doctor (sorry, I missed her name againL).

Since I am a mom of two, I didn’t hesitate to reserve a slot for the Rotavirus Vaccine event. And it was indeed worth my presence because I have missed a lot of things which are needed for me to note especially when it comes to my kids.

The topic comes with a theme of “Save our Children: Fight against Rotavirus Diarrhea”. The time I read this, it made me excite since a new lesson for me to learn wherein I could also share to my readers as well.

more photos of the event HERE.

Facts about Rotavirus

Diarrhea

• (WHO’s own definition) is the passage of 3 or more loose or liquid stools per day, or more frequently than is normal for the individual.
• A very serious and deadly disease.
• The second leading killer of children 5 years old below.

Rotavirus tops the leading cause of diarrhea in the Philippines and worldwide. According to the statistic, one child dies every minute. Imagine in an hour, there are 60 minutes. And in that 60 minute time, there are 60 children dying too. This also means that there are 1,500 children die each day annually, because of this disease.  In Philippines, it is stated that there are at least 13 children ages five below die every day which is equivalent to 12% of deaths among children under five in the country. That tremendous Rotavirus Diarrhea is.

How seriously this rotavirus disease to children?

Rotavirus Infection is a threat to every child ages 5 below. It is life threatening. They may suffer from Rotavirus Gastroenteritis (vomiting and abnormal stool loose) which will lead them to dehydration (loss of liquid in the body) and die if not rushed for help. 

Rotavirus infection is categorized into three. These are the following:

1^st infection- usually moderate to severe.

2^nd infection- considered mild.

3^rd to 5^th infection- asymptomatic (doesn’t show symptoms at all) or consider as immune to the body who gotten the infection for several times already.

Although, there are fortunate children survive from this drastic disease still they are not lucky enough. Rotavirus Diarrhea also leads to serious long term effects in a child’s development for ages 0-2 y/o.

• Height- Growth shortfalls of ranging from 3.6cm-8.2cm when a child reaches the age of 7

• Fitness- Physical fitness reduction by the age of 4-7 of 4-8%

• Cognitive function- This also has impact towards kids’ cognition. Repeated bouts of diarrhea in the first 2 years of life can lead to a loss of 10 IQ points and 12 mos. of schooling by the age of 9.

What causes Rotavirus Diarrhea/Disease?

Rotavirus disease is everywhere. It is a democratic disease affecting everyone no matter where you reside. Even if you belong to rural or progressive/developed area, rotavirus still occurs. 

According to WHO, infection is spread through contaminated food or drinking-water, or from person to person as a result of poor hygiene. To those pure breastfeeding moms, we can only protect our kids from this disease until in his/her first 6 months of life.

How to avoid this disease?

Proper sanitation and clean water supplies still, don’t give the people 100% assurance of safety against from this disease. As this virus is spread everywhere even inside our home.

Ways on how to prevent before it’s too late:

• Disease Awareness- Consulting our doctor about RV vaccine. It is best for us to consult our doctors before our kids can get this particular disease.
• Early protection as early as 6 weeks (Rotavirus Vaccination).

What is Rotavirus Vaccination and how important it is?

This was the whole event promoted about. Rotavirus Vaccine is the most effective way to prevent diarrhea related childhood deaths under 5 years of age. It is given orally to kids which is easy to give to them compare to other types of vaccines (injectable ones).

**Rotavirus Vaccination has been implemented in developed countries such as Australia, USA, Spain and UK.

List of the countries where **RV now part of EPI/UMV: USA, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, Germany, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, and GAVI eligible countries- Bolivia, Honduras. And in Asia, Philippines is the first country to promote rotavirus vaccine in *EPI. 

It has been announced as well in media that this particular vaccination is now part of the *Expanded Program for Immunization (EPI) in 2012. It is free for those people who can’t afford to pay for private doctor/pedia, those who can’t even afford to eat three times a day due to financial problems they encounter everyday- or commonly known as “poorest of the poor”.

There are 2 million newborn babies annually, yet out of it; only 700,000 (member of poorest of the poor) newborns are reserved to avail this vaccine for free through health centers.

The current status of Rotavirus Vaccination in Philippines:

• 1/10 is given a RV vaccine in private doctors (pediatrician)
• 3/10 are given RV vaccine for FREE (poorest of the poor)
• 6/10 remaining children are not given RV vaccines due to financial problems (yet not categorized as poorest of the poor), which are high risk for RV infection.

With that, our government is pleasing those who can afford to pay in private to give way in line to those poorest the poor in free RV vaccine in health centers.

Hopefully, by 2015 (WHO’s goal), Philippines could achieve 2/3 reduction in child’s mortality among 5 years old below. 

Why should a child be given a RV Vaccine?

Rotavirus Diarrhea is a serious disease. If a child gets this, low chances s/he is capable to survive. That’s why, children especially those infants should be given RV vaccine as early as 6 weeks in order to low his or her risk or prevent him or her to get the Rotavirus Disease in the future.

As a parent, why should I include this vaccine to his or her EPI?

There you have it. If you don’t want to lose your child, then give him RV vaccine. If you don’t want to face financial problems in the future, give him RV vaccine. If you don’t want to add problems in your stressful work, then give him RV vaccine.

Hospitalization due to acute gastroenteritis/diarrhea bears a very serious impact on the patient and parents’ quality of life as well as on their livelihood. Working caregivers had an average of PhP1,000 income loss per day. Amongst working caregivers, almost all missed 1-3 days of work or more. More than half of the caregivers had spent more than PhP5,000 (an average of Php7,870.00) for all the medical expenses.. 

How much does RV Vaccine cost in private doctors/pedia?

That varies. But as per estimation, (vaccine costs alone) it ranges from PhP2500-3500 excluding PF of your pediatrician.

And as per Dr. Juliet Aguilar, in her part she gives RV vaccine as early as 6 weeks of a child’s life. But in health centers, this is usually given to a child when s/he reaches 8 months of his life.

Why risk, if we can all prevent this deadly disease through giving our child RV vaccine before it’s too late.

Again, I would like to thank Mr. Tan and Mr. Coby (and the rest of the staff) for being so accommodating and of course, Dr. Aguilar and the other Doctor for taking time to be with us and discussed what RV is all about.