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HEALTH MINISTRY LAUNCHED ITS 2014 IMMUNIZATION WEEK

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Health Permanent Secretary Dr Lester Ross. Photo credit: SIBC.
Health Permanent Secretary Dr Lester Ross. Photo credit: SIBC.

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services has launched its 2014 Immunization Week in Honiara today – with the theme “Stop Hepatitis B and Liver Cancer, Vaccinate at Birth”, and the slogan “Healthy Future for your Family”.

The nation-wide vaccination program wants to prevent Hepatitis B from spreading in the country.

Speaking to officially launch the program today, the Permanent Secretary for Health and Medical Services, Doctor Lester Ross says a team of Taiwanese doctors found that out of 1,610 blood samples, 19.6 percent of people have hepatitis.

The study was conducted in 1999.

Dr Ross says this means two out of every ten people in Solomon Islands has the Hepatitis disease, and this is a major challenge for the country.

He says according to health experts, hepatitis is highly endemic for a country that more than eight percent of its population has the disease.

“Experts of this sickness say if more than eight percent of a population has hepatitis B, this means that it is very highly endemic, so not only Malaria and Non-Communicable Diseases are a big problem in this country but even Hepatitis B, so it is a very important information that we need to know and not only that but get our children immunized to prevent this big problem.”

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