Burkina Faso/Health: Young people committed to promoting vaccination

From April 24 to 30, 2024, African Immunization Week was celebrated. Once again, WHO took the opportunity to draw countries' attention to the need to promote immunization. The day was also used to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Expanded Program on Immunization. In Burkina Faso, the association Actions des jeunes contre la résistance aux antimicrobiens (AJRAM) celebrated the day by raising awareness of the importance of vaccination in schools. In this interview, Dr Yascine Zanga, general practitioner and coordinator of the educational talks program of Actions des jeunes contre la résistance aux antimicrobiens, talks about the importance of vaccination, the achievements of the EPI and the actions undertaken by AJRAM.

Lefaso.net: African Immunization Week was celebrated from April 24 to 30. What was the aim of this celebration? What was the theme of the week?

Dr Yascine Zanga: The theme of this year's African Vaccination Week is "It's humanly possible". The aim of the week is to remind leaders and populations alike that it is vital to preserve the results achieved and step up funding for immunization in order to avoid the resurgence of certain preventable diseases. In addition, this week is an opportunity to initiate actions to change the discourse on mistrust of vaccines, and to raise awareness of the efficacy and important role of vaccines for people's health.

The week is also an opportunity to celebrate 50 years of the Expanded Program on Immunization. What has the EPI achieved, particularly in Burkina Faso?

This year, WHO and its partners (UNICEF, Gavi Alliance) have decided to focus on commemorating 50 years of the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI).

The EPI was a salutary initiative, because it reduced the infant mortality rate by almost 80%. As a result, 14 million children have been saved. In Burkina Faso, the Expanded Program on Immunization has proved its worth, because we used to have diseases like polio, which were almost eradicated thanks to the EPI. The EPI is not set in stone; it's something that can be readapted to suit the realities of the country. The proof is that this year, the new malaria vaccine has been introduced into the EPI.

What diseases are covered by the EPI in Burkina?

It covers polio, hepatitis B, meningitis, diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, rubella, malaria and many others.

Why do you think Burkina Faso is unable to achieve 100% child immunization coverage?

It has to be said that the difficulties on the ground are real. Efforts are being made, and more needs to be done. One of the difficulties is the way people view vaccines. There have often been rumors about vaccination. Some don't hesitate to say that vaccines cause illness, that vaccination will create problems for children, others even go so far as to say that it kills. So, rightly or wrongly, people have arguments to justify their rejection of vaccination. We've seen this most recently with Covid-19.

What is your association doing to promote vaccination?

Diseases can be divided into two main groups: infectious diseases and non-infectious diseases. When it comes to infectious diseases, there are two ways of preventing them. The first is hygiene, whether of the body, the mouth or the environment. The second is vaccination.

Vaccination is a proven method that has saved many lives. To mark African Vaccination Week, our association and its partners (NIYEL, the African Association for the Fight against Antimicrobial Resistance) organized a series of activities to mobilize all stakeholders to ensure universal vaccination coverage.

A digital campaign was conducted, with key messages from several actors and personalities. In addition, educational talks in Ouagadougou and Bobo-Dioulasso were organized in schools to engage young people and teenagers in the drive to promote universal immunization coverage. The aim of all these activities is to mobilize players to ensure universal vaccination coverage, because it is humanly possible.

Vaccination is an effective means of preventing disease. It's important to note that there are a number of diseases for which there are no medicines, but which can be prevented through vaccination. Take rabies, for example. Declared rabies is always fatal, whereas there is a highly effective rabies vaccine. Hence the essence of our commitment to universal vaccination coverage.

What was your message to politicians and decision-makers for this African Immunization Week?

As far as politicians are concerned, it has to be said that for this week, we didn't have any meetings with politicians, but through our interventions we were able to get messages across to them. Indeed, through influential people such as authorities, community leaders, academics and institutional executives, we shared strong recommendations on our communication channels that could substantially contribute to achieving universal immunization coverage. These include the strengthening of health systems, consistent funding of vaccination campaigns and the active involvement of politicians in communicating for change.

Your target for raising awareness about vaccination seems to be young people. Why did you choose this?

Achieving universal immunization coverage requires multi-sectoral involvement, and in particular the involvement of young people, who make up a significant proportion of the world's population and are active in disseminating information. Young people are the future health professionals, researchers, decision-makers and parents.

Their early involvement in discussions on key issues such as vaccination prepares them for tomorrow's public health challenges. When a young person is made aware of the issue, he or she acts as an intermediary not only with his or her parents, but also with his or her entourage, neighborhood and even fellow students who have not benefited from this information. [ Click here to read the full story ]

Source: lefaso.net/