Vaccination campaign targets 275,000 babies

Burundi's Ministry of Health launched on Thursday a vaccination campaign against hepatitis B and meningitis, targeting a total of 275,662 babies aged up to 11 months.

"The objective is to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with chronic infections of the hepatitis B virus, including cirrhosis and other complicated diseases such as meningitis related to haemophilic influenza type B," Dr Jean Kamana, the minister of health, said when he launched the free-of-charge campaign in the capital, Bujumbura.

He said the babies would be injected with new vaccines - a combined tetravalent DTC-Hib liquid for meningitis - from February. Each child would receive three doses per injection, he added.

Kamana said the vaccination would be administered in stages: The first injection at six weeks after birth, the second at 10 weeks and the third at 14 weeks.

"At the end of 2004, we want to reach the figure of 275,000 babies who will have been vaccinated against Hepatitis B and meningitis," he said.

Burundian health officials say that hepatitis B and meningitis kill adults as well as children. Dr Emmanuel Seheye, an epidemiologist, said there were 201 suspected cases of meningitis in the country in 2003 and that test samples were being examined in medical laboratories.