Highlights
'Bare-foot docs' bring gift of life to child vaccination
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-11-20 13:36
Yang carries a 15-kilogram load on her 40-kilogram frame: a cool box and a medicine box, containing ice, vaccines, iodine, a stethoscope, salt water and bandages and other necessities.
The cool box is a must for vaccinations. At the very beginning of the immunization program, the program was hampered by the absence of a refrigeration chain, which rendered many vaccines ineffective.
The project provided walk-in fridges, chest refrigerators, refrigerated trucks and cool boxes to improve the storage and transportation of vaccines for children below the age of 6.
Children have mixed feelings toward cool boxes, which contain candies as well as needles, says Yang Zheng'e.
In her township, the health threats to children include communicable diseases such as measles and meningitis. Measles, in particular, can lead to complications such as child pneumonia, blindness and other infections.
Since 2000, the incidence of child measles in Jiarong County has been zero. Yang Tingchang, office director of Huishui Health Bureau, says,"Diseases preventable by vaccines are almost unheard of in Jiarong township."
Around 96 percent of children in Jiarong Township were vaccinated against tuberculosis and hepatitis B, said Yang.
Hepatitis B vaccinations were introduced to the EPI in 2002. After expansions in 2002 and 2007, the program comprises 15 vaccines, which are all manufactured in China and provided for free.
In 2008, reported coverage for basic WHO recommended vaccines was above 95 percent, according to the WHO.
"China even immunizes children against diseases that few countries in the world manage to address, such as hepatitis A and meningitis groups A and C," says Dr Yvan Hutin, medical officer in WHO China's EPI.
He says surveys conducted in 1992 and 2006 indicated that in 2006, hepatitis B infection in children aged under 5 had fallen by about 90 percent.
"This decrease is attributed to high vaccination coverage and delivery of hepatitis B vaccines within 24 hours of birth," says Dr Hutin. He cites the elimination of the transmission of polio in 1992, thus protecting kids from illness and paralysis, as another EPI achievement.
Yang Zheng'e is better-off than when she started. In 2008, her monthly salary was raised from 38 yuan to 100 yuan. With a bonus factored in, she can earn more than 1,000 yuan a month.
But this bare-foot doctor says she would keep stepping up regardless to ensure all 2,700 children in Jiarong Township are free of disease.
