Earlier this week I blogged about my trip to Laos to witness firsthand the impact of aid investments in improving immunization coverage across the country. Here's what I've been up to since.
On the first official day of the program our delegation got to see Australian aid dollars and science in action. Travelling to a school on the outskirts of Vientiane, we were greeted by hundreds of school children waving the flags of Laos, Australia and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We were then hurried into an assembly hall where the Vice Minister of Health formally received us.
The Vice Minister explained to us the cost cervical cancer had wrought on Laos and the lives lost as a result. It was therefore significant that in just October last year Laos had become the first country in the region to pilot the HPV vaccine. In the year since almost 2000 people have participated in promoting in schools where they hope it will save many lives.
Hearing about the impact of the HPV vaccine resonated particularly strongly with our delegation of Australian parliamentarians. After all, the vaccine was developed with Australian support and the Australian researcher, Ian Frazer, is widely credited with playing a lead role. First introduced in Australia, it was inspiring to now see it being rolled out in one of the region’s poorest countries.
The Minister left us in no doubt as to the importance this vaccine would have for her country, which is being supported by Gavi and in turn the Australian Government. But while Laos is doing its part by increasing its health budget to 9% of overall government spending, the Minister made it clear that donor support would remain crucial for the next few years for running vaccination activities. The Minister told us that with additional support from the Australian Government, not only could the HPV program be expanded, but coverage of other new vaccines such as the pentavalent vaccine.
For our second day we flew to Luang Prabang, a city located in north central Laos at the confluence of the Nam Khan and Mekong rivers. Here we attended a local community vaccination ceremony where the Members of Parliament on our delegation got to participate in delivering the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) to young infants. With the support of Gavi, the OPV will from next year begin to be phased out and replaced with the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) that we use in Australia and the United States. Members of our delegation also handed out packages and gifts to the mothers, which act as an incentive for them to bring their child to get vaccinated. Again there was an interesting Australian connection here given that the campaign to eradicate polio through the widespread use of OPV was initiative by an Australian Rotarian back in 1979!
In all, the trip has been a great learning experience for our Members of Parliament. One of the members participating, Catherine King MP (Shadow Health Minister), said it well when she told an audience that aid budgets often come under pressure in tight budgetary conditions. Therefore, for a Member of Parliament it is great to see the delivery and impact of their aid dollars first hand so that they return to their electorates and sell the benefits to their constituents.
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Michael Sheldrick