Coronavirus: health crisis in sight in South Asia due to the cessation of childhood vaccinations
Text by: RFI Follow
South Asia must resume vaccination campaigns interrupted by the new coronavirus as soon as the pandemic is contained, because their suspension puts hundreds of thousands of children at risk, warned UNICEF on Tuesday April 28.
Publicity
Read moreUnicef sounds the sanitary alarm bell. " While the Covid-19 does not seem to make many children seriously ill, the health of hundreds of thousands of children could be affected by this interruption of vaccination services ," warns Jean Gough, the director of the UN agency in South Asia, worried about a " serious threat ".
The Bangladesh and Nepal have continued their campaigns against measles and rubella, while the Afghanistan and Pakistan , two of the three countries in the world where polio remains endemic, arrested their actions against this disease.
Consequence: sporadic epidemics of preventable diseases, including measles and diphtheria, have already been observed in Bangladesh, as in Pakistan and Nepal, warns UNICEF.
Vaccinate taking precautionary measures against Covid-19
The UN agency dedicated to children thus " strongly " recommends to governments to " start now to plan the intensification of vaccination activities once the pandemic of new coronavirus is under control ". She even calls to continue to vaccinate while taking the necessary measures.
" As soon as health workers take the appropriate precautions, especially by washing their hands, there is no reason not to vaccinate," insists Paul Rutter, counselor at UNICEF. It is even crucial that the vaccination continues. "
Vaccine shortages
Covid-19 also has an impact on the supply of vaccines in the region as it has affected their production, " generating additional shortages ".
India, whose economy has slowed sharply due to a national containment in progress for a month, had supplied 1.25 billion doses to UNICEF in 2019, according to the UN agency.
► Listen: Pakistan: doctors protest against lack of resources to fight Covid-19
Our selection on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus
• Listen to Coronavirus Info , daily chronicle on the pandemic
• Explanation: The origins of the Covid-19
• Analyzes:
→ What strategies to face the epidemic ?
→ A vaccine, the only solution to stem the pandemic?
→ What impact on conflict zones?
• Practical questions:
→ What is known about the mode of contagion
→ What results for ongoing clinical trials?
→ How to make a mask and use it well
Find all our articles, reports, chronicles and programs on the coronavirus by clicking here .
See also the files of RFI Savoirs on the Covid-19:
• Birth of a pandemic
• Everyday life put to the test
• The history of epidemics
• Science facing the Covid-19
• The geopolitical consequences
Newsletter With the Daily Newsletter, find the headlines directly in your mailbox
SubscribeFollow all international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR- Coronavirus
- Bangladesh
- Nepal
- Afghanistan
- Pakistan
- Health and Medicine
On the same subject
Coronavirus: caregivers on hunger strike in Pakistan over lack of equipment
Coronavirus: Nepal closes Everest and bans tourists
Afghanistan: Coronavirus Threatens Peace Process