Seychelles has always had a successful track record with regard

 Although Seychelles is generally considered to have thorough immunisation coverage, a handful of health care practitioners embarked on Monday October 20,  on a week-long workshop to improve the country’s vaccination services.

Organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the workshop’s intent is to modernise the expanded programme for immunisation (EPI) for the health ministry, with a particular emphasis on child care.

A participant drawn from each district health centre, along with several child care workers, will take part in the session, facilitated by four local nurses who recently travelled to South Africa to take part in a mid-level training course.

The workshop, held at the Victoria Hospital, will address the current issues of immunisation and also some of the newer developments in the field, said the ministry’s EPI programme manager, Juliette Henderson.

Health care practitioners who administer vaccinations, Ms Henderson said, need to be informed about the latest practices and policies that are accepted internationally.  This includes the safe immunisation of HIV-positive patients and the correct age schedules for certain types of vaccinations.

Investing in the proper training and equipment for immunisation and prevention, she added, is a much more cost-effective venture than the alternative costs of treatment.

Although one WHO official who visited Seychelles recently said that the country had one of the best EPI programmes in Africa, reviewing the quality of immunisation services is becoming a priority for many countries, said Dr Rui Gama Vaz, a WHO consultant to Seychelles.

“Assuring quality is key,” said Dr Vaz while addressing the participants.  “This is why you are here today.”

Dating back to the country’s first programmes in the 1800s for smallpox, Seychelles has always had a successful track record with regard to immunisation coverage, Patrick Herminie, director general for disease prevention and control, said in a speech to declare the workshop open.

Dr Herminie said that disease coverage in the country is almost at 100 percent, while most vaccine-preventable diseases have been eradicated altogether.

However, for the country’s EPI service to continue to be a flagship service for primary health care in Seychelles, continual improvement to sustain the programme was necessary, he said.

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