Armenian campaign is worth a shot
Nonprofit Children’s Vaccine Fund aiming to raise $1.5
million for various inoculations for Armenian children
for next 15 years.
Glendale News-Press
October 13, 2004
By Josh Kleinbaum
GLENDALE – While many Americans worry about the flu vaccine shortages,
children in Armenia and other countries around the world are trying
to get vaccines for more serious treatable diseases. In Glendale,
one group is trying to help.
The Millennium Armenian Children’s Vaccine Fund is attempting to
raise $1.5 million to provide the standard set of vaccinations for
children in Armenia for the next 15 years. The vaccinations, given
to children in America as standard practice, cover serious diseases
such as diphtheria, hepatitis B, polio and tuberculosis.
“The need is enormous,” said Eliza Karagezian, the fund’s project
manager. “Without vaccines, children get sick with preventable diseases
and suffer needlessly. The financial infrastructure in Armenia does
not allow [the government] to provide children with these vaccines.”
In the past, Armenia has relied on foreign aid from other nations to
provide the necessary vaccines, Karagezian said. This money raised
by the Millennium Fund will allow Armenia to be self-sufficient.
“Children in developing countries are under so much stress from
malnutrition and the environment that vaccines are a wonderful way
to make them less susceptible to other things, like diarrhea or
pneumonia,” said Celia Woodfill, epidemiologist in the immunization
branch of California’s Dept. of Health Services. “It’s very good
that they’re trying to go for 15 years, because then it could have
a sustained effect. If you could stop the disease in kids, you can
stop the disease in the community. Maybe by then, Armenia will have
found its feet.”
The fund is working with UNICEF and Armenia’s Ministry of Health to
get the vaccines to children. Karagezian said the fund, administered
by the Ani & Narod Memorial Foundation, has raised $1.3 million,
and she hopes to raise the additional $200,000 by the end of the year.
When the fund reaches its goal of $1.5 million, it will have enough
money to vaccinate 560,000 children in Armenia.
“Having a healthy economy and a healthy democracy starts with having
healthy individuals,” said Ardashes Kassakhian, executive director
of the Armenian National Committee’s Western Region. “We see how
important health care issues are here in this election in this country,
and other countries have the same concerns.
“Children are our future. We have to teach them well and let them
lead the way.”
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress