Quito, February 7, 2023
The country received 197,500 doses for children under five years of age
Since 2022 there is between Ecuador and Spain the debt swap program for the acquisition and donation of trivalent anti-polio vaccines; Within this framework, this project ended on February 7, 2023, which allowed 197,500 doses to be applied to children under five years of age.
The acquisition and delivery of the donation was in charge of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and allowed the Ministry of Public Health to advance with the immunization campaign against the disease, reinforcing the total vaccination scheme.
The Minister of Public Health, José Ruales, highlighted the importance of inter-institutional cooperation and the application of the complete vaccination scheme for children under five years of age. Currently, “we guarantee vaccines for at least five months and we are in the purchase schedule for this first quarter (2023) with an investment of USD 52 million; we are with all the schemes insured and complete, ”he emphasized.
In the same context, Ruales announced that in May 2023, the Ministry of Health plans to start a massive vaccination campaign against polio, measles and rubella on a national scale.
For his part, Javier Uribe, representative (e) of PAHO in Ecuador, stressed that the country has been without poliomyelitis for more than thirty years, “this is due to the national effort and the collaboration that PAHO makes with its member states; vaccines need to be easily accessible,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, Robinson Pánchez, representative of the Commercial Office of Spain in Ecuador, said that “this Ecuador-Spain debt swap program constituted a significant milestone with the donation of more than 39,000 vials destined to cover the needs of childhood vaccination after the pandemic by Covid-19”.
Dennys Toscano, Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, indicated that the debt swap contributed to public health.
The head of the MSP indicated that for this State portfolio it is a priority to strengthen the first level of care by improving its physical infrastructure with the repowering of 50 health centers and providing maintenance to another 600. These centers will be equipped with personnel, for this purpose advance the hiring processes of nearly 1,000 health professionals and the acquisition of anthropometric equipment to monitor the growth and development of children.
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