SOCIETY
Immunization Week launched in Baku
Baku, April 22 (AZERTAC). Today Immunization Week was launched in Baku. The Day will be held in regions as well.
Since 2007, the Republic of Azerbaijan has taken part in European Immunization Week (EIW), an annual initiative of the WHO Regional Office for Europe, with the goal of increasing vaccination coverage by raising awareness about the importance of immunization.
The Baku-based UN representation office says that during EIW 2013 Azerbaijan will focus on organizing an extensive public awareness campaign to increase overall routine immunization coverage, reducing pneumococcal infection related child mortality and morbidity by introducing pneumococcal vaccine, ensuring measles and rubella elimination by strengthening surveillance and increasing immunization coverage by combined measles, rubella and parotitis vaccine.
During Immunization Week, local health facilities will provide immunization services according to the national immunization schedule to all children who have missed routine vaccination for any reason.
The following events will also be conducted in Azerbaijan within the framework of Immunization Week: national conference on preparation to introduction of pneumococcal vaccine to national immunization schedule - 23 April 2012, Research Institute of Pediatrics of the Ministry of Health. In order to participate in the conference in 2013 all 53 countries of the WHO European Region are participating in the European Immunization Week initiative.
Other regions of the World Health Organization (WHO) have also established their own successful Vaccination/Immunization Week initiatives, and in 2013 all WHO regions will unite under the over-arching framework of World Immunization Week (WIW).