WHO : On Using Sanofi Pasteur #Dengue Vaccine in endemic countries


When talking about Dengue, the first thing we like to ask is how many Dengue cases occur in the world at the moment. But there are now studies showing that approximately half of the global population has a risk of Dengue, nearly 400 million infections occur every year. And most of those around 70% happen in Asia. That translates nearly to 100 million case of disease.

Recognizing that huge and interesting reality, the World Health Organization has already made a strategic plan since 2012.
Their objectives?
To lessen the mortality of Dengue by 50% and reduce the number of cases by 25%.
Unfortunately, according to them, the target has not made yet.

Here in the Philippines, there has been an increase of cases since 2010 and possibly 150,000 cases every single year. It is rather getting worse than getting better since all four Serotypes of Dengue are constantly circulating the Philippines. But we all know that the extremely dangerous of them all is the second Serotype/infection which can lead to hemorrhagic fever and even death.
The ages who are usually affected are from ages 5 to 20. A very seasonal Dengue distribution in this time of year.

Though we have a lot of cases here, it is still highly unreported mainly because the cases are still unrecognized.
The study conducted by the Research in the University of Oxford in UK, they found out that for every Dengue case in the Philippines reported, there are 40 cases occur which are never reported at all. This little things populate the new World health Organization estimate for Dengue. At around 3 million cases per year in the Philippines. This means 1 symptomatic case every 10.6 seconds. Truly an incredible stats, I must say.

If we are to count the yearly cost, Dengue cases here in the Philippines each year would cost around 643 million US dollars, that is 30 something billion pesos. That does not include the treatment yet.

But it's not all bad news. In this modern times, tools for Dengue prevention is now within reach. Just this July, Sanofi and its Sanofi Pasteur global vaccine unit, announced that the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts, SAGE on Immunization Group has issued its recommendations to WHO on the use of Sanofi Pasteur vaccine against dengue.
This document came about after a long review of Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) about this vaccine and recommended the vaccine to be included in Public Immunization Programs to areas which are very endemic. They said that it should be used to maximized the public health impact of the vaccination.

The study conducted in Cebu City , by the age of 6 to 15, 80 percent of the children are likely Seropositive it is clear that the vaccine programs should be used in Cebu with the alignment with WHO.

The real innovation and challenges for Sanofi Pasteur came with Phase 3 studies, efficacy studies. What does this mean? 
Compared to other trials, you inject the product and see if it's safe and can see immediate changes. The first ever trial made was in Thailand of about 4000 children. The Phase 3 studies was done in Asia-pacific. The difference between Asia and Latin America that the force of infection is twice as high here. 

Now, in the recent dengue vaccine cost-effectiveness study performed by Professor Hilton Lam of the UP-National Institutes of Health, a nationwide annual routine vaccination of nine-year olds starting in 2016 would lead to an estimated 24% reduction in dengue cases in the country over five-year period. This would translate to 775,053 avoided cases of dengue, 502,000 avoided hospitalizations, 22,010 avoided deaths and almost Php 21 billion in avoided cost to society.

They also announced that the Sanofi Pasteur vaccine against dengue was also approved in other countries, including Mexico and Brazil to combat the disease burden of dengue.

Speakers for the RTD are SanofiPasteur’s group of experts namely Dr. Alain Bouckenooghe, head of Research and Development (R&D)of Sanofi Pasteur and Joshua Nealon, head of epidemiology for Asia Pacific.

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