Healthcare professionals in Asia-Pacific unite to protect children from pneumococcal disease

Healthcare professionals from 20 countries across the Asia-Pacific, including India, have come together and launched Asian Strategic Alliance for Pneumococcal disease prevention, or ASAP, to protect more children from the risk of pneumococcal disease (PD) in the region.

Meeting at the First Symposium on Pneumococcal Vaccination in the Asia Pacific Region at the Lotte Hotel, Seoul, South Korea last week, they called for greater urgency in creating awareness and tackling the challenge of PD through vaccination programmes. Currently, only Australia and New Zealand in the Asia-Pacific, have included the Pneumococcal Saccharide Conjugated Vacciner (PCV-7) as part of their national immunization programme.

The choice of “ASAP” as an acronym was deliberate because of its popular association in the public mind with “As-Soon-As-Possible” – the healthcare professionals want to drive home the message that immediate action needs to be taken to prevent PD and save lives. In developing countries around the world, PD is considered the leading vaccine-preventable cause of death among children under five.

Dr. Nitin Shah, Former IAP President and ASAP member from India said, “Pneumonia is responsible for 19% of under five deaths and accounts for nearly 2 million deaths worldwide. India contributes to 0.41 million of these pneumonia deaths. 50% of these under five pneumonia deaths are caused by pneumococcal pneumonia i.e. nearly 1 million deaths worldwide and India contributes to 0.2 million of these deaths. So, India has 2.2 million children under five years dying every year from all disease conditions. Out of these, 19% die due to pneumonia and 50% of the 19% die due to pneumococcal pneumonia. Creating awareness of pneumococcal disease is a great initiative by ASAP”.

At present PCV-7 is the first and only vaccine to prevent invasive pneumococcal disease in infants and children younger than 24 months. PCV-7 helps to protect against disease caused by seven serotypes (strains) of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, also known as pneumococcus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified its inclusion in national immunization programmes as a priority, particularly in countries where the mortality rate of children under five years old is greater than 50/1000 live births, or where more than 50,000 die annually.

The report “Pneumonia: The Forgotten Killer of Children” published by WHO/UNICEF in 2006, said more than half of all pneumonia cases worldwide occur in the Asia-Pacific region. Of the 133 million childhood pneumonia cases around the world in 2005, India accounted for 44 million and China accounted for 18 million. Five of the top ten countries with the highest burden of pneumococcal disease are in Asia: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia and Pakistan.

The report said that pneumococcal disease, which includes pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis (blood poisoning) and ear infections, is becoming an increasing threat worldwide. Antibiotic-resistant infections are widespread and pneumococcal pneumonia frequently follows influenza infections, making it more likely to occur in the event of an influenza pandemic. It is estimated that about 50 percent of all child pneumonia deaths are caused by the Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, commonly known as pneumococcus.

The meeting in Seoul was organized by the International Vaccine Institute (IVI), GAVI’s pneumoADIP and the Sabin Vaccine Institute. It was also attended by policymakers and opinion leaders to help develop solutions to expand vaccination programs to combat PD, a major killer of children and adults in the Asia-Pacific region. Those who attended were from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, , Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand, Brunei, Macau and Hong Kong.

ASAP is affiliated to the global Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE) and the Asian Society of Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ASPID). It also collaborates with other public health and pediatric groups to achieve its mission of containing and controlling pneumococcal disease in the Asia Pacific region through awareness, surveillance, advocacy and prevention.

“ASAP wants to be the voice of our children, speaking up and looking out for them so that they can live longer and healthier lives. Our formation is the call to action to raise the level of awareness of PD, facilitate the exchange of information and insights on the disease, propose solutions and push for more preventive measures to be taken,” Dr Lulu Bravo, Chairperson of ASAP and Chief of Pediatric Infectious Disease at the College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila, Philippines General Hospital said.

At present, PCV-7 is available in 89 countries and is part of the routine national childhood immunization schedule in 17 countries worldwide as many health authorities have already recognized the importance of protecting infants and young children against PD.

In the Asia Pacific region, South Korea has the highest rate of birth cohort penetration with 78 percent of newly born children being vaccinated through the private market. Hong Kong has the next highest with 41 percent, followed by Singapore at 36 percent and Taiwan at 24 percent of cohort penetration. Elsewhere in Asia Pacific, there is a stark difference in the number of infants and young children being vaccinated even in countries where PCV-7 has been introduced. The figure ranges from 0 to 3 percent.

ASAP currently has members from Brunei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand.

Source : Equity Bulls

Keywords