Killer vaccine

Finally I decide not to vaccinate my 9 months old child anymore at least in my country. I made this decision not because I suspect vaccine campaign  as the western conspiracy plot against my country nor do I believe it will destroy reproductive potential of my child. I came to this conclusion because I fear that vaccines which are supposed to save life can actually   take it.

Recently four infants died within 24 hours after they were administered measles and DPT vaccines at a village in Doti district. Moh was quick to set up the probe to investigate the incidence. They found the reason behind the death of infants is contamination of vaccine with the pollution at the local level. (http://www.thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Contaminated+vaccine++behind+infants'+death+&NewsID=345098)

Neither Ministry of health who is providing for operational issue in vaccination nor GAVI provider of vaccines took responsibility for the death of innocent lives. The incidence went unnoticed.

I agree vaccination has been saving millions of lives all over the country and few unfortunate incidences should not deter our commitment to vaccinate our children but it is utter irresponsibility in the part of authority to handle the issue and cover up attempt to save their face make me and many people like me to suspicious. And who knows this may be and possibly is the tip of iceberg and many deaths go unnoticed.

Nursing the wombs of poor women – a neglected priority

We talked a lot about maternal health, child health, HIV, TB and malaria in the last decade. Millions of dollars were poured into the health system and thousands of health workers were mobilized. With the combined efforts of ministries, international donor agencies, NGOs and INGOs, we succeeded in achieving significant improvement in reducing maternal and childhood mortality and containing many diseases like HIV. It was a beautiful time when hundreds of local NGOs working in the field of the health sector flourished all over the country. Thousands of people got jobs. At the time of the civil war in my country, health became an industry. But with significant improvement in MDG goals their charm started fading. Nepal became less attractive for donors. Hundreds of NGOs, their workers, INGOs and their county directors were on the verge of losing their jobs.

The whole system was searching for a new glamorous health issue to tackle. Suddenly we found one. One in every 10 adult females in Nepal have their womb coming out through their vagina, i.e. utero-vaginal prolapse (Bodner-Adler et al. 2007). A huge burden. Some are very quick in jumping to the conclusion that with the level of human resources we have in Nepal, it will take 60 years to treat existent cases even when working 12 hours a day.
These new findings resonated widely, however. Nepal had found a new MDG+ goal, UV prolapse.

UV prolapse in Nepal is something like HIV for Africa. Let me explain why this should be a fancy issue: it involves women, a vulnerable group; also, it is accompanied by stigma and social exclusion just like HIV. Hesitation and embarrassment to seek medical attention for their condition often leads women to live with this terrible condition for years. In spite of all this, I fear UVP will never be an MDG+ aim. It won’t be addressed by global initiatives because priorities are set in Geneva, New York and Brussels.

Back home in Nepal a poor, stigmatized woman with her pelvic organs in her vagina probably wishes she had HIV.

shishir

http://e.itg.be/ihp/archives/nursing-wombs-poor-women-neglected-priority/