Ministry of Health is set to roll out the administration of typhoid vaccine in the country.
The campaign will run from 15 May to 21 May, 2023 targeting children from 9 months to 14 years.
Speaking to Malawi24 on Saturday, Acting Deputy Director of Preventive Health Services responsible for health education services Mabvuto Thomas said Typhoid conjugate vaccine will be given to children that are aged 9 months to 14 years and after the campaign the vaccine will be in routine vaccination program whereby 9 months old children will be receiving the vaccine.
“For Typhoid, we are giving the vaccine as a supplementary to all other interventions including water and environmental sanitation and hygiene. So, this vaccine will help in terms of reducing the incidences of Typhoid in the country among the children,” said Thomas.
According to Thomas, the country has been experiencing sporadic typhoid fever outbreaks and an increase in surgical complications related to typhoid disease.
Therefore, primary prevention through vaccination is a game changer because high antibiotic resistance continues to make it difficult to treat typhoid effectively.
Thomas also noted that the Typhoid vaccination campaign will be implemented alongside the administration of measles rubella vaccine, polio vaccine as well as Vitamin A supplement.
“So in this campaign we will be giving out Typhoid conjugate vaccine, measles vaccine, polio vaccine as well as vitamin A supplementation to children that are aged 0 to 14 years. The campaign will happen from 15 May to 21 May in all the vaccination sites in all the districts in the country. In these campaign we are targeting about 9 million children for various interventions that I have mentioned that’s 0 to 14 years of age,” said Thomas.
He then urged parents to come forward with their children in order for them to be vaccinated with Typhoid vaccine, polio vaccine, measles vaccine as well as Vitamin A supplement.
The launch of the the campaign will take place on 12 May 2023.
Typhoid is an infection caused by Salmonella bacteria. It results from drinking of unsafe water as well as inadequate sanitation and improper handling of food among food handlers. Its symptoms include a high fever of up to 104ºF, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort and vomiting. It can be life threatening if a person does not have early treatment with antibiotics.
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