Vaccination is the best method of preventing hepatitis B. In areas such as Indonesia, where mother-to-child transmission is high, it is most beneficial when given in the first week of life. Correctly administered, hepatitis B vaccine is 95 percent effective.
"Previously, only children born in hospitals were immunized at birth," said Indriyono Tantoro, Director for Epidemiological Surveillance, Immunization, and Maternal Health in the Indonesian Ministry of Health. "Uniject eliminates both the need for needle sterilization and the wastage of vaccine that comes with using multi-dose vials. It makes our immunization program safer and more cost-efficient, allowing midwives to reach previously 'unreachable' Indonesian infants."
A recent Indonesian cost study found that even though pre-filled Uniject devices are more expensive per unit to buy, they actually save US$0.05 to $0.15 per immunized child. The savings come mainly from reducing vaccine wastage. Wastage can be a serious problem when vaccines are provided in multi-dose vials (usually five- or ten-dose vials), as opposed to single-dose Uniject devices. Once multi-dose vials are opened, any vaccine left over after an immunization session is disposed of, even if only one or two children were immunized.
Indonesia first introduced the birth-dose system in a three-province pilot program supported by CVP. Results showed the percentage of infants receiving the vaccine within seven days of birth jumped from less than 5 percent to 52 percent on average in the pilot districts, and in one district reached 86 percent.
In addition to using Uniject devices, the pilot program introduced a number
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Contact: Ellen Wilson
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Burness Communications
30-Sep-2002