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Childhood Vaccines in India, Part 1

Part 1: How vaccines are made and how they work

In 2008, WHO estimated that 1.5 million of deaths among children under 5 years were due to diseases that could have been prevented by routine vaccination. This represents 17% of global total mortality in children under 5 years of age.

Hygiene, proper nourishment and sanitary conditions make for a healthy community, with lowered incidence of infectious disease, but since much of this is lacking in developing countries, vaccination is very helpful to giving the immune system a boost.

We can thank scientists, physicians and engineers for their work in understanding the immune system and how to make it work for us against disease by using vaccinations.

12 years ago Blog, Health, Science, STEM, Travel • Tags: attenuated vaccine, child survival, diphtheria, effective vaccines, hepatitis, inactivated vaccine, India, International Reporting Project, pertussis, Polio, STEM, tetanus, The History of Vaccines, typhus, vaccine types, vaccines, WHO

Respiratory Diseases in India (Pneumonia and Tuberculosis)

Image: Incidence of childhood clinical pneumonia at the country level from WHO

This page is part of Pediatric Infectious Diseases in India post

I will limit this discussion to pneumonia and tuberculosis (which isn’t solely respiratory) for the sake of brevity.

PNEUMONIA

Pneumonia is the leading global killer of children under five, responsible for almost 1.6 million deaths per year. In that vulnerable population, it is a disease of poverty and occurs most commonly when a child’s still-developing defense system is weakened by malnutrition, air pollution, co-infections with HIV/AIDS and measles, and low birthweight, with 43 million cases for children in India alone.

Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children worldwide.
Pneumonia kills an estimated 1.2 million children under the age of five years every year – more than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.
Pneumonia can be caused by viruses, bacteria or fungi.
Pneumonia can be prevented by immunization, adequate nutrition and by addressing environmental factors.
Pneumonia caused by bacteria can be treated with antibiotics, but around 30% of children with pneumonia receive the antibiotics they need. (source)

Pneumonia occurs when the sacs of the lungs, known as alveoli, become filled with pus and fluid, limiting oxygen intake and making it hard to breathe.

12 years ago Blog, Health, Travel • Tags: antibiotics, CDC, disease resistance, India, International Reporting Project, Klebsiella, Legionella, pneumonia, respiratory diseases, Salmonella, tuberculosis, WHO

Other Pediatric Diseases in India (Malaria and HIV)

Image is of the Anopheles mosquito, the main insect vector of Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of Malraria via the CDC

This post is a continuation of Pediatric Diseases in India (part 4).

MALARIA

“Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease that affects more than 500 million people annually, causing between 1 and 3 million deaths. It is most common in tropical and subtropical climates and is found in 90 countries—but 90% of all cases are found in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most of its victims are children. The first stage consists of shaking and chills, the next stage involves high fever and severe headache, and in the final stage the infected person’s temperature drops and he or she sweats profusely. Infected people also often suffer from anemia, weakness, and a swelling of the spleen. Malaria was almost eradicated 30 years ago; now it is on the rise again.” (source)

12 years ago Blog, Health, STEM, Travel • Tags: AIDS, artemisinic acid, CDC, HIV, India, International Reporting Project, malaria, mosquito, plasmodium, STEM, WHO

Pediatric Infectious Diseases in India

This is the first in a series of five posts leading up to my trip to India to examine issues of child survival with the International Reporting Project via Johns Hopkins University with significant funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. For the duration of the trip, I am to consider my self a New Media Journalist with IRP.

Infectious diseases are common all over the world. You probably know them as generally communicable diseases of bacterial, viral or protozoan origin that will enter the body and infect it, causing illness and sometimes leading to death, especially if the body is weakened by malnutrition or stressful environmental factors.

12 years ago Blog, STEM, Travel • Tags: books, cholera, diarrheal diseases, Gates Foundation, GIS, HIV, India, International Reporting Project, malaria, mathematics, pneumonia, respiratory diseases, rotavirus, STEM, TB, tuberculosis, UNICEF, videos, WHO

Why am I going to India?

I will be leaving in just a matter of days to go to India with the International Reporting Project as a New Media Journalist to examine the issues of child survival. We will be in Mumbai, Nagpur, and New Delhi with visits to rural and slum areas. The IRP has a full schedule for the ten of us chosen to share our findings with our audiences within social media and blogs.

I made a video explaining why I’m going and what I plan to do to further the understanding of STEM (Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) during this trip in relation to child survival issues.

Many of the issues surrounding child survival in India; malnutrition, maternal and fetal care, sanitation, infectious diseases, and vaccinations, can be viewed as social issues, ones that stem from the difficulties of being a developing nation with a tremendously large population, and many of them living below the poverty levels and without education. Segments of India are thriving and growing and on the cutting edge of technology, with some of the most highly educated people in the world, making India a land of disparities.

12 years ago Blog, Travel, Video • Tags: Angela Saini, child survival, Geek Nation, India, Infectious Diseases, International Reporting Project, Malnutrition, Maternal-Fetal Health, Sanitation/Environmental Issues, Vaccinations

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