Why prevention is the best medicine for rotavirus

World Immunization Week provides a moment to reflect on the tremendous progress in reducing one of the world’s leading killers of children—diarrhea.

While oral rehydration solution has significantly reduced diarrheal disease mortality since its adoption in 1978, diarrhea continues to be a major cause of childhood illness and death globally. Rotavirus, the most common cause of severe diarrhea, is responsible for approximately 40 percent of all diarrhea hospitalizations and hundreds of thousands of deaths in children under five.

Rotavirus vaccines offer the best protection for children and are an essential part of comprehensive diarrhea control. While the World Health Organization recommends that all countries introduce rotavirus vaccines, only 77 countries have done so, 34 of which are Gavi-eligible countries where many of the deaths occur. Unfortunately, some of the most vulnerable children and communities do not have access to the vaccine.

In particular, Asia has lagged in introducing rotavirus vaccines, even though it accounts for more than 40 percent of global rotavirus deaths. To date, no country in the region has introduced the vaccine into their national immunization program.

While dramatic reductions in deaths from childhood diarrheal disease have been achieved in Bangladesh, there are still more than 2.4 million rotavirus cases each year. It causes two out of every three diarrhea-related hospitalizations among children under five. There are also serious economic consequences. One episode of rotavirus costs the average Bangladeshi family about USD $80 in direct hospital costs, a significant portion of average monthly income.

In neighboring India, where rotavirus is equally ubiquitous, the disease poses a significant financial burden to families and the country’s economy. Studies have shown that a hospitalization for rotavirus could potentially push a family into or keep them in a life of poverty. Depending on the level of hospital care, the total cost of a rotavirus hospitalization could range anywhere from nearly USD $32 to more than USD $135, equal to up to two months of income for an average Indian family. Rotavirus also burdens the healthcare system with the high cost of hospitalizations and outpatient visits. One study estimated that hospitalizations and outpatient visits cost India approximately USD $78 million and USD $86 million each year, respectively—each more than the estimated USD $72 million it would cost to fund a rotavirus immunization program.

For fast-growing countries like India and Bangladesh, tackling rotavirus—which cheats children and the nation of productivity, well-being and development—should be a priority. However, the available and effective rotavirus vaccines are not yet available in the national immunization programs of either country.

Many of my scientific colleagues in Bangladesh are making a good case to their leaders for national introduction of rotavirus vaccines. And, I’m inspired by the strides being made in India. Last July, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that rotavirus will be included in the Universal Immunization Programme; and just last month, the first India-made rotavirus vaccine, ROTAVAC, was launched. Now is the time to get to the finish line—the cost of delaying access to rotavirus vaccines continues to mount. Together we can close this immunization gap and virtually eliminate rotavirus.

This article is published in collaboration with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: Dr. Mathuram Santosham is a Co-chair of the Organization Rotavirus Organization of Technical Allies (ROTA) Council 

Image: A nurse poses for a photo in a trauma center of the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi October 4, 2013. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman