Microsoft chief, Bill Gates, will formally launch the second phase of the Children's Vaccine Prpogramme during his visit to Hyderabad on November 14, the Children's Day. The second phase of the immunization programme, being funded by Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation through Programme for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), will cover five lakh more children in six districts, viz. Krishna, Srikakulam, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Warangal and Adilabad. The first phase launched on November 9 last year covered five lakh children in the six districts of Mehboobnagar, Guntur, Chittoor, Anantapur, Kurnool and Cuddapah.
Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, James Cheyne, Associate Director of the Seattle-based PATH, Dr Raj Kumar, Project Manager of the Children's Vaccine Programme and J Laxminarayana, Special Officer, Department of Family Welfare, Government of Andhra Pradesh, said the second phase would incorporate Hepatitis-B vaccine in all the 12 districts, besides introducing auto-disable syringes (vaccine filled disposable syringes) and safety boxes for the disposal of used syringes and other medical wastes. Andhra Pradesh will have the unique distinction being the first state to include Hepatitis-B vaccine in the immunization programme and also using auto-disable syringes for vaccination.
The immunization programme was a joint effort of the government of Andhra Pradesh and the Children's Vaccine Programme of PATH. The project aims to improve immunization services in the state so that the 1.6 million children born in AP every year are safely and effectively immunized against seven major vaccine-preventable diseases such as tuberculosis, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough), diphtheria, polio, measles and now Hepatitis-B. The Partnership Programme had been planned in such a manner that the Gates Foundation would meet the entire cost in the first year.
From the second year the state government would share the cost in a progressive ratio with the Foundation and at the end of the five-year project by the year 2005, the state government would take over the project and entirely manage and finance it.
The Foundation had originally committed $25 million for the project, of which $ 12.5 million would be earmarked for immunization, $6.5 million for the research and development of an India-specific vaccine against diarrhoea caused by rotavirus, in association with Bharat Biotech, and the rest for training and establishment costs.
The PATH officials say the first phase covered 77 per cent of the children in the six districts as against 57 per cent earlier. This year they intend to cover 85 per cent. The third phase of the project will be launched in November 2003 to cover the remaining 11 districts in the state. The fourth and fifth year will focus on training more staff and consolidation of the project. The aim is to achieve 100 per cent coverage by the end of the project. As part of the consolidation work, a name-based registry of births and immunization by using IT would be started in three of the six districts in the first phase, viz. Mehboobnagar, Chittoor and Nalgonda.
Some 5,000 health workers were already trained in six districts in the first phase and an additional 7,000 workers would be trained in the second year.
According to the officials, a portion of the Hepatitis-B vaccine would be procured locally for the second phase. The Hyderabad-based Shanta Biotechnics, certified by the WHO, would supply its Shanvac-B vaccine. Though six companies are producing Hepatitis-B vaccine in the country, the Programme is authorized to use only WHO approved vaccines.
The unprecedented success and commitment from the Government of AP has made it a model not only in India but also for the rest of the world, as several countries are trying to improve their immunization system with support from the Vaccine Fund and other partners in the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). The Government of India is working with GAVI and the Vaccine Fund to introduce Hepatitis-B vaccine and auto-disable syringes through its own programme called GAVI India project. The project is closely working with the Partnership Project in Andhra Pradesh to make use of the best practices, training materials and policy changes developed in AP and implement them at the national level.