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| Children’s Vaccination Programs Sustained by Governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia | | | Since 2003, 2.1 million children have received the benefit of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia thanks to the efforts of the RVF. Measles and congenital rubella syndrome have been eliminated or severely curtailed in these three countries. Now the governments of these countries are |
|  | A grandmother at the IDP camp in Sabirabad, Azerbaijan, makes sure her grandson is vaccinated against MMR. |
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| assuming full responsibility for all aspects of these life-saving programs, thus bringing about their sustainability for the future. Sustainability – the full funding by national governments of children’s health programs initiated by the RVF – is a key part of all RVF health initiatives. In fact, it is the single most important indicator of a successful public health program. We are delighted that the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia recognize the key role of the routine vaccination of children against MMR in promoting the well-being of children by including the necessary funding in their national health budgets. In Azerbaijan full funding of the MMR vaccination program by the ministry of health has been in place since January 2009, while Georgian and Armenian ministries of health will complete the transition from partial to full funding by December 2009. This development means that in the foreseeable future all children in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia will continue to be protected against these serious diseases and the societies of these countries will be spared the terrible human and financial toll caused by periodic outbreaks of measles and rubella. The RVF in turn can use its freed up resources for new health initiatives. For more information on the MMR vaccination programs in each country visit our website at www.rostropovich.org | | | | The following new children’s health initiatives have already been launched: | | | | • | Prevention of the transmission of HIV and hepatitis B from mother to baby in Azerbaijan and Georgia. | | • | Expansion of the deworming program of schoolchildren and young adults in Kyrgyzstan | | • | Creation of a regional reference microbiology laboratory in the Russian Far East for the study of meningitis in young children |
| | The following initiatives are scheduled for the fall of 2009 and early 2010: | | • | Hepatitis B catch-up vaccination of adolescents and medical workers in Georgia | | • | Introducing the pneumococcal vaccine for infants in the West Bank and Gaza. |
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The Rostropovich-Vishnevskaya Foundation (RVF) is a non-political, non-partisan organization whose mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of children in need through selected, sustainable, and transformational public health programs. ...
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