Helping our very young not to miss out on life-saving essentials
The Children’s First One Thousand Days Coalition (CFDC), where I serve as national project chairman, shall heed the call for joint efforts to improve the immunization program especially for very young Filipinos.
Amid the commemoration of World Immunization Week (April 24 to 30), there’s the disturbing report that our country is among those with “zero dose” children, estimated in 2022 to number more than one million in the Philippines by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
“Zero dose children are those that have not received any routine vaccine. The Philippines has already been plagued with low coverage on protective vaccines before the Covid-19 pandemic, never having met the ideal target of 95 percent routine coverage rate for children since the 1990s. Low coverage increases the risk of life-threatening diseases for children,” UNICEF Philippines said.
In a joint statement last April 19, the Department of Health (DOH), WHO, and UNICEF said this year’s World Immunization Week “marks the 50 years of the Essential Programme on Immunization (EPI), a global endeavor to ensure equitable access to lifesaving vaccines for every child, regardless of their geographic location and socioeconomic status.”
The WHO representative to the Philippines, Dr. Rui Paulo de Jesus, issued this call to action: “Immunization is an essential part of primary health care. We urge national and local governments, civil society organizations, private sector, and community members to work together to improve the vaccination program in the Philippines. Every child deserves to be protected from vaccinepreventable diseases.”
Vaccines can indeed prevent diseases including pertussis which is currently on the rise. “Data from Jan. 1 to March 30, 2024 show a total of 1,112 cases since the start of the year (almost 34 times that of the same period last year, at only 32 cases), with 54 deaths recorded,” the DOH said. “Of the total
Pertussis cases thus far recorded, 77 percent were less than five years old. Adults aged 20 and older account for only around four percent of cases.”
“Vaccination is one of humanity’s greatest achievements. In the last 50 years alone, immunization has helped reduce child deaths globally by more than 80 percent. In just five decades we’ve gone from a world where the death of at least one child was something every parent expected, to a world where every child has a chance. If you are vaccinated, you hold a powerful shield that protects everyone else from the threat of disease and death,” said UNICEF Representative to the Philippines Oyunsaikhan Dendevnorov.
DOH Secretary Ted. Herbosa, for his part, said: “Routine vaccination has crushed Wild Poliovirus transmission, polio outbreaks, and Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus in the Philippines. Vaccines helped reopen our economy from the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic. Immunization is key to a brighter, healthier future for all Filipinos. Magpabakuna po tayo tungo sa isang Bagong Pilipinas, kung saan bawat buhay mahalaga (Let’s get vaccinated toward a New Philippines, where every life is precious).”
Sec. Herbosa’s call is of extreme urgency, amid what UNICEF Philippines has said: “In 2021, Philippines was the top five contributor to the 18 million zero-dose children globally and the top seven contributor with the most children unprotected for measles. Routine immunization of children includes vaccines for life-threatening diseases such as polio, measles and tuberculosis.”
Thus, in full support of WHO, UNICEF Philippines, and Sec. Herbosa’s call to action, the CFDC will help boost public awareness on the importance of vaccines for various diseases that need to be given to the very young at various periods ranging from birth to several weeks or months.
The CFDC is currently on a mission to tackle, in tandem with national and local governments, widespread malnutrition during the first thousand days in a child’s life – a crucial period when the impact of poor nutrition can be profound, long-lasting, and even irreversible.
We at the CFDC use an operations manual on “how NGOS and barangay governments can combine efforts to optimize the health of both mother and child, with precise interventions throughout pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and post-pregnancy stages.”
The manual cites the necessity of “comprehensive dietary guidance during pregnancy, promoting a balanced diet rich in essential nutrients, and providing trimester-specific nutrition,” as well as the importance of monitoring and evaluation – with focus on breastfeeding support and optimal nutrition especially among poor pregnant women or lactating mothers.
Comprised of more than 50 civic and non-government organizations, the CFDC “encourages its members who are executives of business organizations to educate their employees on the first one thousand days nutrition program and extend assistance, technical or otherwise, to rank and file employees toward raising healthy and properly nourished children.”
With the call to improve the Philippines’ vaccination program to be near the ideal 95 percent coverage, the CFDC shall focus not only on much-need nutrition but on life-saving vaccinations as well.