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Pneumococcal Vaccine for Infants in the West Bank and Gaza
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A grant from the Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahayan Charitable and Humanitarian Foundation (Zayed Foundation) to the RVF is financing a three-year program to introduce the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine into the routine immunization schedule of all newborns in the West Bank and Gaza. Pneumococcal diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis are the leading vaccine-preventable killers of children under five years of age worldwide. The program, when fully operational, will protect the entire birth cohort of the Palestinian territories - approximately 110,000 children annually - from these serious diseases.
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Mother prepares infant for vaccination at a West Bank clinic
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| The Zayed Foundation was established in 1992 by the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, former president of the United Arab Emirates, to help people in need around the globe. |
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According to estimates of the World Health Organization (WHO) 800,000 to one million children under the age of five years die every year from pneumococcal diseases. Prevention with the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is the best defense for infants. Infants in developed countries already routinely receive the vaccine.
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Because of the urgent need for the vaccine, representatives of the Ministry of Health of the Palestinian National Authority (MOH) asked the RVF and the Zayed Foundation to assist in making possible the universal vaccination of infants in the West Bank and Gaza. The MOH and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) are responsible for implementing the program and will employ only local healthcare workers to administer the vaccine. In addition to providing oversight of the program, the RVF and the Zayed Foundation are assisting in the training of medical workers and the social mobilization of families to maximize vaccination coverage rates.
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The first year the program in 2010 was a pilot phase targeting the most vulnerable children in two districts of the West Bank: Jericho and Tobas. Two additional districts in the West Bank, Bethlehem and Hebron, were included in 2011. To date over 16,000 infants have been vaccinated. All newborns in the West Bank and Gaza, approximately 110,000 infants, will be vaccinated against pneumococcal disease as part of the routine children's vaccination schedule by the end of 2012.
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The MOH will assume full responsibility for financing the program in 2013. This requirement of sustainability is an inherent part of all programs supported by the RVF and the Zayed Foundation.
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To read more about the pneumococcal vaccination program in the Palestinian territories, please click here
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