CPBF's new Position Paper - a call to action
We have launched a call to action on ensuring equal access to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prophylaxis across Canada.
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Skip to the Full Position Paper, our Summary document, or read on below
Our daughter was born at 35 weeks, at 8 weeks old, she got RSV and ended up in the hospital on oxygen for 8 days. She sustained damage to her lungs from the infection and has been on daily puffers since she was 10 months old. She is now four. ~ parent
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Important to know:
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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is a leading cause of hospitalization in young children
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Premature infants are particularly vulnerable to severe disease (bronchiolitis and pneumonia)
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Currently, the only option to reduce RSV infection in all infants is good hygiene
The issue:
Palivizumab - a virus-fighting antibody that strengthens the infant’s defences against severe RSV is available for extremely preterm infants and for some high-risk infants born before 35 completed weeks’ gestation (wGA).
However, access to palivizumab across Canada is particularly variable in children born at moderate-to-late preterm (32-35 wGA), mainly due to cost considerations.
This has created inequity. ​Access to palivizumab in this group depends on where an infant is born.
Analysis:
A new cost-analysis of palivizumab has recently been published and the results indicate that the benefits of palivizumab are worth its cost when its use is guided by a risk scoring tool.1
Risk scoring tools help to target prophylaxis to those infants at greatest risk of severe RSV disease.
The CBPF, in collaboration with RSV experts, has developed a position paper that provides a summary of the new cost-analysis as well as offering a call to action to end inconsistencies in the use of palivizumab, and ensure that all parents of preterm infants born 32-35 wGA receive correct advice about RSV infection and the same level of care:
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Action:
Recommendations
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Standardize the availability of palivizumab
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Present RSV information to all families individually with education
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Provide year-round healthcare professional education on RSV and related illness
Read the Full Position Paper:
ENSURING EQUAL ACCESS TO RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS (RSV) PROPHYLAXIS
FOR PRETERM INFANTS BORN 32-35 WEEKS GESTATIONAL AGE SUMMARY OF A NEW COST ANALYSIS
view or download (PDF 1.9 MB)
ASSURER L’ÉGALITÉ D’ACCÈS À LA PROPHYLAXIE POUR LE VIRUS RESPIRATOIRE SYNCYTIAL (VRS) POUR LES NOURRISSONS PRÉMATURÉS NÉS À 32-35 SEMAINES D’ÂGE GESTATIONNEL RÉSUMÉ D’UNE NOUVELLE ANALYSE DE COÛT
afficher ou télécharger (PDF 1,9 Mo)
