As a doctor and researcher, I’ve seen that rotavirus is the most common cause of deadly dehydrating diarrhoea and infected infants and young children suffer a lot. It is extremely contagious and strikes nearly every child when they are young. Hence, preventing it must be priority.
Babies and young children can be protected from it and treated when they become sick, but for many the care they need is out of reach. Rotavirus accounts for about 40 per cent of India’s diarrhoea-related deaths. In 2011, rotavirus diarrhoea claimed the lives of more than 75,000 children under age five and resulted in more than 8.5 lakh hospitalisations and 30 lakh outpatient visits. That’s an alarming number of mothers and fathers anxiously waiting at their sick children’s bedside.
Diarrhoea in general and rotavirus in particular, places a heavy burden on families, communities and the nation. Hospitalisation for a child with rotavirus costs between `2,000 and `8,400 per episode. What’s more, rotavirus diarrhoea-related medical expenses cost India approximately `500 crore each year, tremendously straining our already overstretched State healthcare system.
The impact of a diarrhoea hospitalisation extends beyond the medical costs incurred by the family. It extends to loss of wages, when parents have to stay home or travel to a health clinic to tend to their sick children, leading to the family facing a grave economic situation. Protecting children from rotavirus in the first place is extremely critical.
The introduction of the rotavirus vaccine in four States in the first phase, and other vaccines including the expansion of pentavalent vaccine across the country, is one of the most significant Government health initiatives in the past few years. The existing body of research on the rotavirus vaccine is robust, demonstrating that they provide broad protection against severe rotavirus, even against strains not included in the vaccine.
Moreover, these vaccines have been shown to significantly reduce the number of diarrhoea-related illnesses, hospitalizations and deaths among children in the countries where they are in use.
With the vaccine included in the national immunisation programme, we can now prevent tens of thousands of deaths, not to mention the huge number of hospitalisations and outpatient visits. Not only would it have a positive social and economic impact, this also means we are moving towards ensuring equitable access for all children thereby protecting their right to survival, good health and development. India is well on track towards its commitment to adopting the Integrated Global Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) interventions.
As a healer of children, I can now proudly say that this move has, in a way, answered the prayers of paediatricians across the country. I sincerely believe that now we can reduce the diarrhoea burden among children in the country, improve our health indicators at the global platform and give our children a better chance at life.
(Dr Mohanty is president, East Zone, Indian Academy of Paediatrics)
