A medical worker prepares to administer vaccine to a baby in the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam is promoting
vaccination for newborns in mountainous and remote areas where the customs of
giving birth at home still challenges immunization efforts.
In the first three months of 2018, vaccination
coverage was expanded on schedule. The rate of babies getting hepatitis B shots
within 24 hours of birth reached 16.9 percent, compared to 16.2 percent in the
same period of 2017.
Meanwhile, the immunization rates of
tuberculosis vaccine (BCG), polio vaccine (OPV), and combined DPT-VGB-Hib
vaccine against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, hepatitis B, and
haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) have also been higher from a year earlier, according
to the (NIHE) under the Ministry
of Health.
NIHE Deputy Director Duong Thi Hong said the
vaccination coverage has surpassed 95 percent nationwide. However, how to
increase the immunization rate and quality in mountainous and rural areas
remains a big challenge to the country. Unfavourable transport conditions,
different ethnic languages and the custom of shifting cultivation have hampered
ethnics’ access to immunization.
Although the rate of
among babies in their first 24 hours has been improved, it still needs to be
boosted in some mountainous and remote provinces where the custom of giving
birth at home is popular, she added.
NIHE Director Dang Duc Anh said from now to the end
of 2018, the expanded immunization project will continue working with the
health ministry’s Department for Medical Examination and Treatment Management
and the National Hospital of Obstetrics and Gynecology to step up vaccination
against hepatitis B virus at medical facilities with delivery rooms.
With the help of the World Health Organisation
(WHO), the project will pilot administering hepatitis B vaccine to newborns at
home in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai in 2018.
He noted that the immunization will also be
expanded in rural clinics in northern Yen Bai, Son La, Bac Kan and Bac Giang
provinces and central Nghe An, Quang Binh and Khanh Hoa provinces.-VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
