Pfizer summit strengthens fight vs.pneumonia and meningitis

To achieve the vision of universal healthcare for all Filipinos, the Department of Health (DOH), private sector, and medical practitioners promote the importance of protecting people of all ages from vaccine-preventable diseases such as pneumonia and meningitis.

Pneumonia continues to be a major public health concern worldwide, for both children and adults. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Philippines is one of the 15 countries that contribute to 75 percent of childhood pneumonia cases. Meanwhile, data from the DOH show that in the past 10 years, pneumonia consistently figured in the top five leading causes of death among adults. 1

Meningitis, on the other hand, has symptoms that resemble that of the flu in its early stages. Bacterial meningitis, known as the most serious type of meningitis that can lead to death and permanent disability, is caused by several types of bacteria including N. meningitidis and streptococcus pneumoniae. Promoting immunization to fight these vaccine-preventable diseases is at the heart of the Pneumococcal and Meningococcal Disease Summit (PMDS), held by global research-based pharmaceutical leader Pfizer since 2015.

The summit promotes pneumococcal and meningococcal awareness, prevention, and control and is targeted towards both the pediatric and adult communities.

This year’s PMDS cascade gathered more than 800 doctors in pediatrics, infectious diseases, pulmonology, and adult medicine. The critical role of vaccination was reinforced in protecting Filipino children against pneumonia and meningococcal diseases.

Dr. Anna Lisa Ong-Lim, one of the speakers at the Cebu leg of PMDS this year, said that despite the availability of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines, there is still poor uptake of immunization. “This is the significance of forums such as this — to promote prevention and control, and support doctors’ recommendation on the most cost-effective solution for patients,” she explained. Ong-Lim is a fellow and assistant secretary of the board of trustees of the Philippine Pediatric Society.

Dr. Allen Costales, Pfizer vaccines medical manager, added, “The shared goal to protect our children against pneumonia and meningitis is at the heart of the PMDS, as this is one of the platforms in which we strengthen government and private sector collaboration in fighting these diseases using innovative preventive solutions for the benefit of the patient.”

“Doctors and clinicians need to share best practices to support interventions like vaccination, and get access to data that can help them make a case for their patients,” pointed out Dr. Alfredo Bongo, Jr., fellow of the Philippine Pediatric Society.

Dr. Ricardo C. Zotomayor, assistant professor at the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center’s College of Medicine and chief of the Section of Pulmonary Medicine of the hospital’s Department of Medicine, noted how pneumonia is a significant disease burden in elderly adults worldwide. He cited studies showing the effectiveness of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in adult pneumococcal vaccination and shared the ideal sequence of different pneumococcal vaccines for the elderly.

Meanwhile, Dr. Ma. Delta S. Aguilar, a specialist in pediatric infectious diseases and head of the Section of Infectious Diseases at the Department of Pediatrics of the Southern Philippines Medical Center, discussed the essential role of vaccination in meningococcal disease prevention.

Aguilar said that quadrivalent meningococcal conjugate vaccines (MCVs) provide protection against serogroups A, C W and Y, four important serogroups of meningococcal disease in infants, toddlers, young adults, and older adults. Meningococcal disease causes life-threatening meningitis and meningococcal septicemia.

Despite the existence of vaccines, some diseases are still rampant, such as pneumonia which is still a leading cause of death in the country. Fora to promote awareness on pneumonia and meningococcal disease prevention are called for in support of the DOH’s expanded national immunization program.

With its thrust that no Filipino should die of a vaccine-preventable disease, Pfizer continues to help intensify the fight through PMDS, which empowers medical practitioners in preventing and treating pneumococcal and meningococcal diseases.