South Africa's unified national childhood vaccination program, launched in 1995 to replace the fragmented, unequal vaccine access that had existed under apartheid, when public health services were split across separate racially defined administrations. The Expanded Programme on Immunisation, known as EPI-SA, initially covered diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, poliomyelitis, measles and pulmonary tuberculosis, and it added the hepatitis B vaccine that same year, followed by the Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine in 1999 and both pneumococcal conjugate and rotavirus vaccines in 2009. Its 1995 launch is regarded by South African public health researchers as a landmark unification of the country's vaccination services under one national program for the first time.
Facts
Program StatusActive; 11 antigens now in the EPI schedule, most recently the HPV vaccine 1 Sponsoring BodyNational Department of Health (NDoH), South Africa 1 Geographic ScopeSouth Africa, nationwide 1 Classification
Program KindVaccination or Immunization Program 1 Connections
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Africa, found in there.
Sources
1. SAMJ: The Expanded Programme on Immunisation in South Africa, A Story Yet to Be Told (2016)
South African Medical Journal (South African Medical Association)Achievements section, programme-history sentence
The immunisation programme has come a long way since it was launched in 1974, when there were only six vaccines in the schedule: diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (DPT), measles, polio and Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) for protection against tuberculosis.
Achievements section, antigen-count sentence
South Africa now has 11 antigens in the EPI schedule, including the most recently introduced human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for protection of young girls against cancer of the cervix that may affect them later in life.
Opening paragraph, EPI-managers clause
the former employees of the Department are posted as the top National Department of Health (NDoH) EPI managers with substantial years of experience and, supposedly, expertise.
reference list entry naming the programme
Introducing new vaccines into the South African national immunisation programme - a case study.
Program classification, entity description sentence
South Africa's unified national childhood vaccination program, launched in 1995 to replace the fragmented, unequal vaccine access that had existed under apartheid, when public health services were split across separate racially defined administrations.
View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.