NewsGlobalHealth: 21 October 2009 - UNICEF: A new report by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI Alliance and the World Bank says that more infants are being immunized than ever before and vaccine development worldwide is booming. Immunization rates are now at their highest ever - with a record 106 millions children vaccinated in 2008.
SEE: THE STATE OF THE WORLD'S VACCINES AND IMMUNIZATION REPORT 2009: STATEMENT by HELEN EVANS, DEPUTY CEO GAVI ALLIANCE http://www.maximsnews.com/news2009102...
SEE: WHO, UNICEF, WORLD BANK, GAVI ALLIANCE: VACCINES & IMMUNIZATION 2009 REPORT ALL-TIME HIGHS BUT INEQUALITIES (MaximsNewsNetwork) http://www.maximsnews.com/news2009102...
The third edition State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization report was launched today (21 October) in Washington DC. The report is a call to action to governments and donors to sustain and increase funding for immunization in order to build upon the progress made so far in meeting the global goals.
It focuses on the major developments in vaccines and immunization since 2000.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mickey Chopra, UNICEF Chief of Health:
There may be groups of children or parts of communities which are also excluded from the health system as a whole, so focusing on immunization coverage often can be a way of focusing on those who are excluded from society, excluded from health services, more than just the vaccines.
More children than ever before are being reached with immunization: over 100 million children a year in 20052007. And the benefits of immunization are increasingly being extended to adolescents and adults providing protection against life-threatening diseases such as influenza, meningitis, and cancers that occur in adulthood.
In developing countries, more vaccines are available and more lives are being saved. For the first time in documented history the number of children dying every year has fallen below ten million the result of improved access to clean water and sanitation, increased immunization coverage, and the integrated delivery of essential health interventions.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mickey Chopra, UNICEF Chief of Health:
Thirty-five to forty percent of all children deaths are caused by pneumonia and diarrhea alone, and now we have two wonderful new vaccines which will address many of the causes of diarrhea and pneumonia and the challenge now is to get these vaccines introduced as quickly as possible where they are needed the most.
The availability of new vaccines against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus is expected to have a rapid and major impact in global efforts to reduce child deaths one of the UN millennium development goals (MDGs) prevent sickness, and, for pneumococcal disease, prevent disability. At the same time, vaccination against these diseases provides a key opportunity to actively promote the prevention and treatment of pneumonia and diarrhea, which together account for over one third of all deaths among children under five years old.
SOUNDBITE (English) Mickey Chopra, UNICEF Chief of Health:
The challenge will be to ensure that the other behavior changes to protect against diarrhea and pneumonia reinforced, because there is a danger that carers and mothers will believe that their children are now fully immunized against pneumonia and diarrhea and as I said we believe that these vaccines will only cover twenty to thirty percent of the cases.
More vaccines have been developed and others are already in the late stages of clinical trials, making this decade the most productive in the history of vaccine development. More money is available for immunization through innovative financing mechanisms. And more creative energy, knowledge, and technical know-how is being put to use through the development of public-private partnerships forged to help advance the immunization-related global goals.
Yet despite extraordinary progress in immunizing more children over the past decade, in 2007, 24 million children almost 20 percent of the children born each year did not get the complete routine immunizations scheduled for their first year of life. Reaching these vulnerable children typically in poorly-served remote rural areas, deprived urban settings, fragile states, and strife-torn regions is essential if the MDGs are to be equitably met.
NewsGlobalHealth:
See: http://www.NewsGlobalHealth.com
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