Vaccines are important tools to prevent diseases before they break out.

AS parents, we never want to see our children sick, no matter how minor the illness may be. According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in the US, vaccinations play a major role in the prevention of disease, ensuring that your child lives a safe, happy, and healthy childhood.

Polio once affected 20,000 Americans every year in the 1950s. However, since the introduction of the polio vaccine, there have been no reports of polio.

Diphtheria, one of the most dreaded childhood diseases up through the 1920s, killed over 10,000 people every year. After vaccination started in the 1930s and 40s, the number of cases dwindled drastically.

Cases of vaccine preventable diseases have dropped significantly since the introduction of the National Immunisation Programme. ? Reuters

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that up to 552,000 diarrhoeal diseases can be prevented through vaccinations.

Thanks to vaccines, smallpox is now completely eradicated.

Reducing childhood risk

The Government introduced the National Immunisation Programme in the early 1950s and the Expanded Programme for Immunisation in 1989. Cases of vaccine preventable diseases have dropped significantly since the introduction of the programme.

To ensure the continued success of the National Immunisation Programme, it is important that parents take the appropriate steps of following through with the schedule accordingly.

Prevention is better than cure

In addition to the mandatory vaccines under the National Immunisation Programme, there are other vaccine-preventable diseases from which you can protect your child.

Rotavirus causes severe diarrhoea, which is the leading cause of preventable deaths among children under five in developing countries. Rotavirus is also the most common cause of diarrhoea among infants.

The rotavirus disease starts with fever and vomiting, followed by diarrhoea. Frequent bowel movements lead to dehydration, which may result in shock, kidney failure, and possible brain damage. Large amounts of rotavirus are shed in the stools of infected persons and are easily spread through contaminated objects and hands.

However, the disease can be prevented through vaccination, often given between the ages of six and 24 weeks, before a child?s first encounter with the virus.

Pneumococcal disease affects up to 841,000 children annually worldwide and is caused by a type of bacteria known as Streptococcus pneumoniae. this bacterium can cause otitis media (infection of the middle ear), sinusitis, septicaemia (blood infection), meningitis (inflammation of the brain lining), as well as pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs). Delayed treatment of the pneumococcal disease can cause hearing loss, paralysis, brain damage, and even death.

The best way to protect against this disease is through vaccinations, which are available to protect against the most common pneumococcal serotypes that cause severe invasive disease.

Chickenpox is a common childhood disease, which can be quite serious in infants and even adults. It causes unnecessary discomfort, missed days at school or work, and often results in expensive medical bills.

Chickenpox is highly contagious among children and is spread through the air, or by contact with fluids from the blisters. although usually a mild disease, complications such as encephalitis, bacterial infections to lesions, and scarring, may arise.

Children should receive the chickenpox vaccine when they are around 12 to 15 months old and a booster is required. this vaccine is more than 95% effective in preventing moderate to severe forms of the infection.

Hepatitis a is an inflammation of the liver that is commonly caused by viral infection. although it does not cause long-term illness, in some rare cases, death does occur. The hepatitis a virus is found in the stools of those infected and is transmitted through contaminated hands, objects, or even water. Therefore, children who go to day care centres or kindergarten, are at a higher risk of contracting hepatitis a.

There are vaccines available to prevent hepatitis a, and all children above the age of two years can be vaccinated with two doses, given six months apart.

Influenza, also known as ?the flu?, is a very contagious viral infection of the respiratory tract. Symptoms of the flu are usually more severe than the typical cold, with fever, chills, headaches, muscle aches, cough, sore throat, and even nausea or vomiting.

Toddlers and younger children are usually more vulnerable to the flu as their immune systems are still developing. some complications that may arise from influenza include ear infections, pneumonia, and myocarditis. Healthcare experts recommend influenza vaccinations every year as the virus is constantly changing, leading to new vaccines being produced every year.

A boost for health

Boosters may be required for some vaccines. an example is the tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis (whooping cough) vaccine (Tdap) that is given after the basic DTP vaccine in early childhood. Tdap booster vaccines are used to prevent the spread of whooping cough from infected adults to young infants before their DTP vaccination.

Tetanus toxoid is currently given whenever one has a serious injury to prevent tetanus. this needs to be replaced by Tdap to ensure that the pertussis booster is also obtained.

These are just some of the diseases in which you can protect your child from through vaccinations. The key to good public health is disease prevention as it is always better to prevent a disease, rather than treat it.

Vaccines not only help to prevent diseases, they are also responsible for the control of many infectious diseases once common in the world.

This article is courtesy of the Malaysian Paediatric Association?s Positive Parenting Childhood Immunisation Campaign that is supported by an educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline. The opinions expressed in the article are the view of the author. For further information, please visit mypositiveparenting.org