Motivating Moments
Motivating Moments of the Week
This page is dedicated to the ways in which we find the inner strength and confidence to do the right thing in public health. It is about moments of insight and encouragement that keep us going even in the face of adversities and challenges. We invite our readers to share those motivating moments.
This page was inspired by IH Section member TJ. Thank you TJ!
Eckhard said
DREAMS
At the grand opening of 2008 APHA 136th Anuual Meeting in San Diego, Sir Michael Marmot gave an inspiring keynote address. He talked about all the health challenges that remain despite considerable progress over past decades. To go about our work every day we have to keep up a healthy optimism. What Sir Marmot said stuck in my mind when he talked about the need to keep going in the face of challenges (such as reducing child mortality by 2/3 in Africa by 2015 as targeted by MDG 4; ed.):
The tragedy is not that we may not fulfil our dreams; the tragedy is not to dream at all.
Tod Steward said
Whether you have heard of rotavirus before or not, it may surprise you to know that you’ve probably had it. Nearly everyone in the world will have at least one rotavirus incident by age 3.
In the developing world, rotavirus—the most common and lethal form of diarrhea—is one of the most deadly diseases a child will face.
Unlike many other global health crises, proven prevention methods such as vaccines are already available for rotavirus and the World Health Organization recently recommended that these vaccines be included in every country’s immunization program.
Recently, the scientific Journal of Infectious Diseases released a special supplement on rotavirus, Global Rotavirus Surveillance: Preparing for the Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccines. It provides a comprehensive review of the latest data on rotavirus available. This is significant because rotavirus is the most common form of diarrhea and diarrheal disease is the second leading killer of children.
Diarrhea kills 1.5 million young children a year in developing countries. In a recent New York Times story the chief of health at UNICEF was quoted as saying, “All the attention has gone to more glamorous diseases, but this basic thing has been left behind,” said Mickey Chopra, chief of health at UNICEF, which is trying to put diarrhea back on the global health agenda. “It’s a forgotten disease.”
In his Fox Business blog, John Stossel wrote, “…In third world countries there is much more funding for glamorous diseases like AIDS compared to easier to treat illnesses like pneumonia and diarrhea… I can’t find anything about a World Rotavirus Day. I am not surprised that there are no Diarrhea Walks.”
Included below is a short release which provides an overview of the special supplement on rotavirus.
To access the Journal of Infectious Diseases Global Rotavirus Surveillance: Preparing for the Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccines supplement, please visit: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jid/200/s1.
Cheers!
Tod Steward – (206) 694-0005
For more information, read: Common Virus and Senseless Killer: Briefing Paper on Rotavirus.
Learn more at PATH.org or EDDControl.org.
(More)
Rotavirus vaccines needed in more countries
NEW YORK, Nov. 6 (UPI) — Rotavirus vaccines could save an estimated 228,000 lives worldwide each year by reducing deadly diarrhea, the World Health Organization said.
Strains of rotavirus, disease surveillance and vaccine-cost effectiveness are outlined in special edition of the Journal of Infectious Diseases, which supports WHO recommendations that rotavirus vaccines be included in every country’s national immunization program.
Rotavirus is the leading cause of severe diarrheal disease and exacts a heavy toll on the world’s poorest countries, said Dr. John Wecker, director of the Vaccine Access and Delivery Global Program at PATH, a non-profit health group.
“Rotavirus is one of the most deadly diseases children in the developing world face,” Wecker said in a release Thursday. “Vaccination holds the key to making it one of the most preventable diseases.”
Vaccines preventing rotavirus have been licensed in more than 100 countries. The vaccines, however, have not yet reached many of the places where the rotavirus burden is greatest, especially in African and Asian countries.
For Immediate Release: November 5, 2009 Contact: Paul Quirk
+1-202-572-2879
+1-202-549-5394 (cell)
Paul.Quirk@gmmb.com
New Journal of Infectious Diseases Special Edition outlines compelling rotavirus
burden data and critical need for access to vaccines in high-burden regions
Edition provides significant contribution to the understanding of rotavirus and focuses
needed attention on the most deadly cause of diarrheal disease
Seattle, WA—The Journal of Infectious Diseases has released a special edition, Global Rotavirus
Surveillance: Preparing for the Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccines. This special edition provides a
significant contribution to the understanding of rotavirus disease burden and the impact of
rotavirus vaccines, which have the potential to save an estimated 228,000 lives annually.
As the leading cause of severe diarrheal disease, rotavirus exacts a tremendous toll on health
systems, particularly in the world’s poorest countries. In addition to compiling data on rotavirus
incidence from around the globe, this collection of scientific articles also covers strain diversity,
the need for continued disease surveillance, and vaccine cost-effectiveness. The release of
these pivotal data comes on the heels of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) June 2009
recommendation that vaccines preventing rotavirus—the most common and lethal form of
diarrheal disease—be included in every country’s national immunization program.
Rotavirus is responsible for the death of more than half a million children under age 5 annually
and causes approximately 40 percent of diarrhea-related hospitalizations. Nearly every child in
the world, regardless of socio-economic status or geographic location, will contract rotavirus by
age 3. However, its burden is disproportionally felt in developing countries in Africa and Asia,
where rotavirus is often fatal because children cannot access emergency care.
“Rotavirus is one of the most deadly diseases children in the developing world face,” said Dr.
John Wecker, director of the Vaccine Access and Delivery Global Program at PATH. “Vaccination
holds the key to making it one of the most preventable diseases.”
Regional surveillance networks have generated rotavirus disease and strain burden data in
nearly 60 countries since 2001, demonstrating tremendous burden and supporting the need for
widespread rotavirus vaccine use. The WHO has advocated for the global introduction of
rotavirus vaccines as a key component of the strategy to reduce child deaths from diarrheal
disease—the second leading killer of children today.
“As these articles demonstrate, the burden of rotavirus is felt worldwide,” said Marc-Alain
Widdowson, epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and lead
author of the introductory article in the special edition. “The global health community must
work together with public and private sector partners to help every country use available
interventions—including vaccines—to stop child diarrheal disease deaths.”
Vaccines preventing rotavirus have been licensed in more than 100 countries, many of which
are in the industrialized world, and their routine use is dramatically reducing severe infections.
The vaccines have not yet reached many of the places where the rotavirus burden is greatest—
especially in the developing countries of Africa and Asia.
“Vaccines are the best way to prevent rotavirus-related hospitalizations in industrialized
countries and to avoid unnecessary child deaths in places where access to medical care and
lifesaving interventions may be limited,” said Dr. Duncan Steele, senior technical advisor for
PATH’s Vaccine Development Global Program and co-author of the introductory article in the
special edition. Steele started his work on the article while at the WHO’s Initiative for Vaccine
Research.
Today, two orally administered vaccines preventing rotavirus, RotarixTM—produced by
GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals, and RotaTeq®, produced by Merck—are available, and new
vaccines are in development. The WHO recommendation on global use of these vaccines was
based on large-scale clinical trials demonstrating vaccine efficacy in impoverished, highmortality
settings. It builds on a 2006 recommendation to include rotavirus vaccines in the
national immunization programs of countries in Europe, Latin America, and North America.
Informed by the WHO decision, the GAVI Alliance has committed to providing eligible countries
with financial support for rotavirus vaccine introduction and is currently accepting applications.
To access the Journal of Infectious Diseases supplement Global Rotavirus Surveillance:
Preparing for the Introduction of Rotavirus Vaccines, please visit:
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jid/200/s1.
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PATH is an international nonprofit organization that creates sustainable, culturally relevant solutions,
enabling communities worldwide to break longstanding cycles of poor health. By collaborating with
diverse public- and private-sector partners, PATH helps provide appropriate health technologies and vital
strategies that change the way people think and act. PATH’s work improves global health and wellbeing.
For more information, please visit http://www.path.org.