British Medical Journal
29 January 2011 Volume 342, Issue 7791
http://www.bmj.com/content/current

News
Vaccination programme to protect children against pneumonia and diarrhoea needs more funds
Kate Womersley

Extract
Up to one million children’s lives could be saved every year if new vaccines to tackle the causes of pneumonia and diarrhoea were widely available in the developing world, says a report from Save the Children published on 21 January.

Pneumonia and diarrhoea kill more under 5s globally than any other illnesses, accounting for three times more deaths than malaria and HIV combined. The report says that the death toll could be cut by up to one quarter if children were routinely vaccinated against these diseases.

The report charts progress towards achieving the United Nations’ millennium development goals. Its authors found “extraordinary progress” in some countries, with some of the world’s poorest—including Malawi, Nepal, Bolivia, and Bangladesh—being on track to achieve the goal of reducing child mortality by two thirds by 2015.