The GAVI Alliance and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health sponsored an event “to review the impact and promise of new vaccines, particularly those that can prevent some of the most common causes of pneumonia and diarrhea in children…the event also celebrated the City of Baltimore’s success with immunizations to improve the health of even its poorest and hard-to-reach children.” Robert Black, MD, Chair, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s (JHSPH) Department of International Health, noted, “We now have in hand the latest country-specific estimates of the major causes of child deaths. This should help to focus national programs and donor assistance on the solutions that are most likely to be effective. Achieving the global goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds is only possible if the high numbers of deaths are addressed by health interventions, including vaccines.”

GAVI noted that Baltimore is one of six US cities to dramatically improve their immunization rates, showing what political will and the courage to take action can accomplish,” said Helen Evans, Deputy CEO of the GAVI Alliance. “With increased leadership and financial support from the US and other donors, we could do globally what Baltimore is doing locally. With an additional $2.6 billion over the next five years, we can prevent about four million deaths by 2015 among the children most at risk, including one million from pneumococcal disease and rotavirus diarrhea.”

http://www.gavialliance.org/media_centre/press_releases/2010_07_22_pr_Baltimore.php