At the Almeida Santos auditorium, in the Assembly of the Republic, in Lisbon, the conference ‘Prevention of Respiratory Syncytial Virus – A National Health Priority’ took place, as part of the ‘RSV Think Tank – Inspire Change’ initiative.
The Regional Secretary for Health and Civil Protection, Pedro Ramos, and the Regional Director for Health, Bruna Gouveia, were invited to participate and present the Autonomous Region of Madeira’s RSV immunisation strategy.
The Autonomous Region of Madeira has decided in a pioneering way to move forward with inoculating all children against RSV born on or after the 1st of April 2023.
The Regional Secretary for Health participated, online, in the panel discussion “Strategies for National Implementation: Political Vision”. He began by saying that one of the messages that the COVID-19 Pandemic brought was the need for a “different look at Public Health,” a look that requires a change in strategies.
The main objectives of starting the immunisation campaign against RSV for babies born in the Autonomous Region of Madeira are “to reduce hospitalisations and emergency visits due to infant bronchiolitis and pneumonia.”
This reality exists and constitutes pressure on the Health Services and Madeira is no exception,” he said, justifying that vaccinations are effective public health weapons.
“We aim to have a winter without bronchiolitis in these age groups,” he said. “The autonomy of the region allows us to move forward earlier in these new vaccination campaigns and strategies,” with the main focus on benefiting the health of the population.
In turn, Bruna Gouveia, regional director of Health, was part of the panel discussion: “Strategies for National Implementation: Technical-Scientific Vision”. On the occasion, the leader shared the experience of the Autonomous Region of Madeira within the scope of this regional strategy for immunistion against RSV.
At the moment the immunisation strategy is underway with excellent results “we have an overall coverage of around 92% and if we look at those who were born during the RSV season we have a coverage of about 94%.”
At the moment, 1154 children are inoculated against RSV. By vaccinating infants we found that within the first couple of weeks, a significant decrease (34%) in demand for hospital emergency services for children suffering acute lower respiratory infections in children under 2 years old”. There is also a reduction in RSV-related hospitalisation, compared to the 2022/2023 season, in the order of 40%.
From the point of view of several experts who participated in the conference, Madeira’s pioneering example is positive in that it allows “to take the pressure off the Health Services,” especially at a time when the emergency services of the various units in the country are overcrowded.
The programme brought together a panel of experts from different areas of expertise, namely health professionals, health economists, professional associations, scientific societies, and policymakers. On the occasion, “the impact of diseases caused by RSV – Results of national studies” and “preventive strategies against the disease caused by RSV” were addressed.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is a very common and contagious virus best known for causing bronchiolitis in children during the winter. Bronchiolitis is an acute respiratory infection, with a higher incidence in the first 2 years of life. Most cases of bronchiolitis are caused by RSV.
In a statement, the Ministry of Health confirms that the Regional Government acquired 2400 vaccines, an investment of more than 500 thousand euros.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
