OF THE ROTAVIRUS VACCINE

My name is Carolyn.I live in Nairobi, Kenya and I have a passion to save kids from preventable  infections that take their young, dear lives.

I strongly believe that the case of vaccination education should be a national campaign. For most of my African sisters, both living in urban and rural areas, children vaccinations are a not so important phenomena. A woman gets a child and the first thing on her mind is providing food and clothes.
Granted, this is OK. Lucky for her if she can afford health insurance or gives birth in a private hospital. Many don't. And this becomes a great disaster. Woe to them who give birth at homes. And these are many women who cannot even access hospitals due to poor or no infrastructure or even mostly due to poverty.

With vaccinations, many parents then opt to ignore the fact that it's a crucial component of life. 
 This is because most parents do not believe in the injecting of children to prevent a disease. Moreso, in taking children to hospital or clinics when they are not at all sick.

 Now unfortunately, due to this, the rate of  infant mortality  has been rising quite high. Preventable diseases like polio(the government has really made efforts to combat it's spread), rotavirus, TB, whooping cough, measles have been swiping away this young generation below the age of 5 years.
Quite a sad state of affairs as these are diseases that can be prevented by early vaccinations and immunizations.

A case of Rotavirus for example is caused by diarrhea and vomiting. It's been quoted as a nasty disease that causes diarrhea, which is often accompanied by fever, vomiting, and stomach pain. It can lead to dehydration, and, in severe cases, death. ... In Kenya in 2007, 1,431 of every 100,000 infants and 478 of every 100,000 children under 5 were hospitalized with rotavirus diarrhea. According to WHO estimates in 2013 about 215, 000 children aged <5 years die each year from vaccine-preventable rotavirus infections; the vast majority of these children live in low-income countries. In low income countries, vaccine efficacy can be lower than in industrialized settings, similar to other live oral vaccines, but even with this lower efficacy a greater reduction in absolute numbers of severe gastroenteritis and death was seen, due to the higher background rotavirus disease incidence. 

WHO recommends that rotavirus vaccines should be included in all national immunization programmes and considered a priority particularly in countries in South and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. WHO continues to recommend that the first dose of either RotaTeq™ or Rotarix™ be administered as soon as possible after 6 weeks of age, along with DTP vaccination.

Rotavirus vaccine was introduced in Kenya by  The Ministry of Health through the Unit of Vaccines and Immunization (UVIS), supported by World Health Organization and UNICEF but the vaccines were so expensive that many parents couldn't afford. 

Now (writing this article  in April 2017)  it's been reported that the vaccines are free in almost all public and private hospitals (at least the ones I have visited, account to almost 0.001% of hospitals in Kenya and I find that this is true). By the time I discovered about this killer disease, it was in 2013 and the vaccine was not free let alone available in many hospitals. Unfortunately, this costed a life well loved (and of course many other kids' lives countrywide). Weird enough, some of the doctors, nurses and clinical officers had no idea what the virus was all about. And it was a sad case of drugs and guess what the vomiting and diarrhea was all about until it was too late for this innocent child.

 Prevent Spread of Rotavirus
The virus is in the stool of people who are infected with the virus. It is spread by hands, diapers, or objects like toys, changing tables, or doorknobs that have a small amount of the stool on them. The disease commonly spreads in families, hospitals, and childcare centers. 

1. Maintain good hand hygiene always. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water after visiting the toilet or changing diapers/nappies.
2. Carefully rinse fruits and vegetables,
3. Do not prepare food while infected
   
4. Clean and disinfect contaminated surfaces
   After throwing up or having diarrhea, immediately clean and disinfect contaminated surfaces using a bleach-based household cleaner as directed on the product label. If no such cleaning product is available, you can use a solution made with 5 tablespoons to 1.5 cups of household bleach per 1 gallon of water.
5. Wash laundry thoroughly
   Immediately remove and wash clothing or linens that may be contaminated with vomit or stool.

Remember:
There are two different rotavirus vaccines. Both are given by putting vaccine drops in an infant's mouth.

• Rotateq® - Infants should receive three doses of this vaccine—at 2 months, 4 months, and 6 months of age.
• Rotarix® - Infants should receive two doses of this vaccine—at 2 months and 4 months of age. 

Lets kick away ignorance and help maintain good hygiene in our homes, hospitals and surroundings. Let's save our kids. 

So, now you know. Help spread the word and share this vital information with our African sisters, brothers and parents alike; so that we save our future generation. We still rank as part of the low-income countries  and it is our responsibility to save ourselves. Like us on Facebook Fight Rotavirus Kenya  and use our Twitter hashtag #FightRotavirusKenya to spread the info.  

Sincerely,
Carolyn Gatonye