Australia supports vaccines for Fiji

According to the Xinhua News Agency, the Australian Government will support three new vaccines into Fiji's health system, to help the Pacific island nation overcome difficulties for the health system.

Mr. Glenn Miles, Acting High Commissioner of Australia said that two vaccines Rotavirus and Pneumococcal will be vaccinated for Fiji newborn babies from September 2012, while HPV vaccines will be given to Fiji women from 2013. This is a program to contribute to reducing the rate of pneumonia, sepsis, diarrhea and cervical cancer in this country.

Over the next four years, Australia will provide more than $ 10 million in Fiji dollars ($ 5,710,000) to support the Fiji Ministry of Health in implementing vaccination programs.

Speaking at the handover ceremony, Mr. Miles said: "This is an important milestone in Australian history , in funding Fiji's health sector and proving it is one of the important aid campaigns. of Australia to save life ".

According to Miles, the purpose of providing two types of Pneumococcal and Rotavirus vaccines to 22,000 newborns in Fiji over the next four years is to reduce the rate of children hospitalized for these infections.

In Australia, these two vaccines have shown their effectiveness when contributing to significantly reducing children's hospitalization rates. This has been proven, since the Rotavirus vaccine was introduced in 2007, there were about 7,000 Australian children aged 0 to 5 hospitalized for vaccination and contributed to a 70% reduction in cases. hospitalized for Rotavirus infection.

According to the Australian Department of Health, the introduction of Pneumococcal vaccine also contributes to more than 70% reduction in hospitalizations due to pneumococcal disease in children under 12 months of age.

Meanwhile, the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine has contributed to a significant reduction in abnormal cervical symptoms of women under 20 years of age, over a 6-year period introduced in Australia.

"These numbers prove to themselves and there's no doubt that we get the same results in Fiji," Miles said .

This is the program Australia is committed to improving the lives of women and children in Fiji through maternal and child health care services, and working closely with the Fiji Department of Health to implement the item. This goal.