THE government is to receive US$10m annually to facilitate
immunisation activities, reports Mariam Nalunkuuma.
The funds will be provided by the Global Alliance Vaccines
and Immunisation (GAVI) organisation.
"Uganda will be receiving US$10m each year for five years
to provide additional vaccines, safety injectionrelated material and strengthen
the infrastructure under the health sector," the Uganda National Expanded
Programme on Immunisation (UNEPI) coordinator, Dr. Issa Makumbi, said yesterday.
State minister for primary healthcare Beatrice Wabudeya
said at the opening of a five-day financial sustainability plan workshop at
Hotel Africana Kampala, "GAVI has become a major partner in the immunisation
programme and has facilitated Uganda in the introduction of pentavalent
vaccines," Wabudeya said.
She said Uganda was about to eradicate polio since there
has been no reported case since 1997.
The routine programme offers vaccines against the six
killer diseases and Haemophilus influenza B (which causes meningitis and
pneumonia).
Wabudeya said Uganda has a high disease burden of which
75% is preventable but has got a big toll on social economic development.
"Immunisation is a critical intervention for child
survival and poverty eradication and that is why Uganda is committed to fully
immunising every child," she said.
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MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION
PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS
OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR
LEGAL ADVICE. THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND
COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH
YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.
"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"