New vaccine storage facility for Pacific

Transcript

A new vaccine storage facility delivering to 13 countries across the region has opened in Fiji.

Previously, vaccines were kept in a cold room alongside imported frozen produce.

The facility, provided by the New Zealand government, means that UNICEF will now be able to host new vaccines such as Hepatitis and HPV which require specific storage requirements.

Indira Moala reports.

The Pacific regional cold storage facility for all vaccines has now opened in Nadi. The facility accommodates vaccines for 13 Pacific Island nations through the Vaccine Independence Initiative which is funded by aid from the New Zealand, Japanese and US governments.

UNICEF's Deptuty representative Isabelle Austin says the new storage facility has been a significant breakthrough that will enhance the immunisation partnership they have across the region.

ISABELLE AUSTIN: This is for us, and for the children of the Pacific, something extremely important - on which we've been working for a number of years. It's perhaps, not fully known but the coverage of basic immunisation programmes in the Pacific is not as good as it would be expected to be. Actually, in some countries, coverage of even the basic antigens are as low as in some countries in Africa.

Vaccines are less effective or spoilt if they are not maintained at the right temperature. They are distributed through what is called the cold chain. This is the process used to maintain ideal conditions during dispatch and handling of vaccines, and it's carefully monitored around the tropical temperatures of the region.

IA: It is a challenge, especially in Pacific Island countries which are as we know, archipelagos with multiple islands and some of them remote. So another aspect of the pacific immunisation partnership is to improve 'cold-chain' in all the countries so that such issues are not occur and the cold chain is guaranteed - also from the capital city to the dispatch to outer islands.

For those countries who have many outer islands, UNICEF has also introduced "solar chills" - refrigerators run by solar power. Chief of Health Naawa Sipilanyambe says this has particularly helped the storage and transportation of vaccines to remote areas.

NAWA SIPILANYAMBE: What we've done as UNICEF is we've made sure that we are now supporting the countries to expand the cold chain facility. As a result, they can be used at any health facility regardless of whether or not they have adequate electricity.

Ms Sipilanyambe says the new storage facility in Nadi will mean they will now be better stocked and able to resource countries who may need vaccine on urgent circumstances.

NAWA SIPILANYAMBE: The added value of having the regional cold room is that we now actually have a specific place to store the regional vaccines - and in that way there's more accountability. But more importantly, it also helps us in terms of the actual distribution of the vaccines to the different countries. Aside from actually distributing the vaccines, we always have to maintain a minimum stock level so that at any point in time the countries can have access to vaccines.

Ms Sipilanyambe says the main objective actually is to ensure that every child in the Pacific receives the optimum number of doses required for vaccination every year and that's regardless of the geographical location.