Global Immunization Services Recovery: Progress and Challenges in Indonesia

DEONISIA ARLINTA

Niskala Bintang (4 months) on her grandmother’s lap is being injected for immunization at Posyandu Cempaka, RW 14, Karang Tengah, Tangerang City, Banten, Friday (14/4/2023). Immunization is very necessary to protect children from transmission of diseases that can be prevented by immunization (PD3I), such as diphtheria, tetanus, polio, and measles.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS –Basic immunization services for children globally are starting to recover. Even so, the recovery was not evenly distributed in all countries. Low immunization coverage still occurs in low-income countries so the risk of disease outbreaks is still high.

In the latest report by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef ​​published on Tuesday (18/7/2023), global immunization services in 2022 will reach four million more children than the previous year.

In 2021, there were 24.4 million children who did not get one or more doses of the vaccine. While in 2022, that number will drop to 20.5 million children in the world.

The global marker for immunization coverage uses the diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT) vaccine. Of the 20.5 million children who missed one or more doses of the vaccine, 14.3 million of them did not receive a single dose of the vaccine or are referred to as children with zero dose.

The number of children with zero dose in 2022 will increase from 2019, which recorded 12.9 million children.

Also read: Catch Up Immunization to Increase Complete Routine Immunization Coverage

Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom, said that immunization coverage which has begun to increase is good news for the world. This is proof of the hard work of various parties trying to restore immunization services which have suffered setbacks during the two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Early childhood up to kindergarten level undergo measles-rubella (MR) immunization at Ricci 2 Bintaro School, Pondokaren, South Tangerang, Banten, Tuesday (8/8). This activity is part of efforts to overcome measles and Rubella in South Tangerang City.

“However, global and regional averages do not reflect the whole situation and hide serious inequalities. When any country or region is left behind, it is the children who will pay the price,” he said.

When any country or region is left behind, it is the children who will pay the price.

Immunization services are starting to recover has not been evenly distributed in the world. While well-resourced countries with large populations of children such as Indonesia and India have started to make progress in immunization services, most low-income countries have shown a slower recovery and even continued to decline.

Of the 73 countries that recorded a decrease in immunization coverage during the pandemic, as many as 15 countries are starting to recover to how they were before the pandemic. Meanwhile, 24 countries are in the process of recovery. However, what is worrying is that as many as 34 countries have experienced stagnation, and even continue to decline.

For this reason, Tedros said, each country must accelerate efforts to catch up on immunization coverage and reach every child to get complete immunization. Immunization is very important as a pillar of primary health care.

Unicef ​​Executive Director Catherine Russell said that behind the positive trend of immunization services, there are still serious warnings that must be considered. “If gaps in immunization coverage persist, children around the world will continue to be at risk of contracting and dying from diseases that we can prevent with immunization,” he said.

KOMPAS/IWAN SETIYAWAN

A child is sick when he is injected with the measles and rubella (MR) vaccine during an immunization program at the Posyandu, Cinangka Village, Sawangan, Depok, Saturday (23/9/2017). The Depok City Health Office is targeting around 536 thousand children aged 9 months to 15 years to receive the MR immunization which is a central government program.

One of the vaccines that must be pursued is the measles vaccination. The virus that causes measles is highly contagious.

Vigorous efforts must be made urgently to catch up with children who miss these vaccinations. This is of course accompanied by efforts to restore and improve immunization services, at least like before the pandemic occurred.

Happened in Indonesia

Immunization service conditions that are starting to recover also occur in Indonesia. The Ministry of Health noted that the achievement of complete basic immunization in 2022 would increase to 99.6 percent from 2021 which was recorded at 84.5 percent. This number is even greater than the pre-pandemic coverage in 2019 which was recorded at 93.7 percent.

Also read: Uneven Immunization Coverage, Children Are Not Protected from Deadly Diseases

Even so, the coverage is not evenly distributed. There are still 11 provinces with immunization coverage below the target of 90 percent. The lowest achievements were in Aceh (48.1 percent), Papua (57.4 percent) and West Sumatra (72.2 percent).

Director of Immunization Management of the Ministry of Health Prima Yosephine in an online seminar related to updating cold chain equipment data on Friday (14/7/2023) said that the immunization program is one of the government’s priority programs in health development in Indonesia. That is why, all parties must work together to achieve a high and equitable immunization target so that morbidity, disability and death from diseases that can be prevented by immunization can be reduced.

“With high and evenly distributed immunization coverage, we can produce immunity and immunity in the community. From that high immunity, we can also achieve community immunity,” he said.

2023-07-19 10:30:48
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