Govt considers pneumonia vaccine

Govt considers pneumonia vaccine

Dewi Santoso, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government has taken the initial step toward introducing the
Haemophilus influenzae serotype B (Hib) vaccine to fight
pneumonia and meningitis among infants under 24 months, an
official said on Thursday.

A study conducted by the Ministry of Health in Lombok between
1997 and 2003 revealed that the vaccine lowered the pneumonia Hib
rate by 3 percent, meningitis Hib by 86 percent, and clinical
meningitis by 22 percent.

Although pneumonia Hib and meningitis Hib cases in Asia remain
far lower than in the United States, Europe, and Africa, Ministry
of Health expert advisor Anhari Achadi said Hib cases should not
be underestimated.

"The question is whether Hib cases in Asia are really low or
is it because we simply have no data on Hib cases due to
insufficient medical diagnosis?" he said.

He warned that Hib could be a big problem in the future if no
action was taken to prevent it.

While pneumonia affects the lungs, meningitis can lead to
deafness, paralysis and mental retardation. The two diseases can
cause death.

Conducted on the West Nusa Tenggara island of Lombok, the
government study took a random sample of 55,000 infants aged
between two weeks and 24 months, and divided them into two groups
of 25,000. One group received the diphtheria (DPT) vaccine only,
while another got DPT plus the Hib vaccine.

Anhari said that the study was conducted in Lombok because the
island had a high infant mortality rate.

In Lombok, the number of infants with pneumonia Hib is
estimated at 884 out of 100,000 per year, the number of
meningitis Hib cases at 156 out 100,000 and the number of
clinical Meningitis cases at 697 out of 100,000.

Anhari said Lombok also had good infrastructure that enabled
people to travel around easily. The island also had sufficient
laboratory facilities and the local government was committed to
support the study.

The study was funded by the Program for Appropriate Technology
in Health (PATH), and was conducted by the Ministry of Health in
cooperation with the Association pour l'Aide a la Medicine
Preventive (AMP) France and PATH USA.

It may take a long time before the Hib vaccine is given to
infants under a national immunization program, Anhari said.

"We need to conduct a study on cost effectiveness and take
more samples so that we know whether or not the Hib vaccine is
effective," Anhari said.