You might have noticed that last week was
World Immunization Week. This was the WHO’s attempt to give impetus to the continuing
need for immunization:
Figures show how access to immunization is
a source of health injustice: 6.62 million children in Africa, 8.35 million in
South East Asia and 0.46 million in Europe are not fully immunized. And
immunization is a major way to promote children’s health - vaccine-preventable
deaths account for 20% of the 8.8 million deaths of children under 5 globally each
year. More figures can be found at:
The week has also highlighted the WHO and UNICEF’s "Global
Immunization Vision and Strategy 2006-2015". Its main strategic areas are
to:
1. immunize so called "hard to reach" infants and
other age groups through a greater focus on the district level;
2. increase both availability and affordability of new
life-saving vaccines; 3. deliver supplementary health interventions, such as
insecticide-treated nets against malaria, vitamin A supplements, and deworming
medicine during immunization contacts, especially for the "hard to
reach" and
4. strengthen cross-border collaboration and coordination to
ensure a reliable supply of vaccine, sustainable financing of vaccination and
epidemic preparedness.
These renewed calls for attention to childhood immunization are of course to be greatly welcomed. These are ‘old’ problems that have still not
been solved despite the global wealth that would have enabled global immunization
many years ago.
It would be great to add in to the equation attention to some of
the newer issues: for example, two safe and effective vaccines have been
developed that protect against 70% of cervical cancer cases. Whereas in the UK
the Department of Health has enabled vaccines against the human papilloma virus
(which causes 99% of all cervical cancers) to be readily available for 12-13
year old girls, thus saving 400 lives each year, this is not the case in the
poorer countries. 80% of the 275,000 women who die each year from cervical
cancer live in developing countries. Vaccines against the HPV are cheap and available.
The GAVI Alliance is beginning to roll out a vaccination programme and hopes to
have vaccinated 28 million girls by 2020. See their website for lots more information: http://www.gavialliance.org/
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