Gates Foundation blog
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/foundationnotes/Pages/margaret-chan-saving-lives-immunization.aspx

Posted by Margaret Chan on May 11, 2011

Saving Lives With Immunization
I am a believer in human ability and ingenuity. I believe it is our duty to try our best to make the health of each successive generation better.

As a public health expert, I reflect often on how this can be done. Diseases have plagued mankind for millennia but the human race has fought back with ingenuity. It was Edward Jenner’s innovation in 1796 that gave us the strongest public health tool that we have ever possessed: the vaccine.

New technology in the middle of the last century led to the development of vaccines for polio, measles, mumps, rubella, typhoid and tuberculosis. More recently we have developed vaccines for influenza, hepatitis B, meningitis and yellow fever. We are pushing forward in our quest to find vaccines for HIV and malaria. The time lag from discovery to delivery is getting shorter and more countries are receiving good quality vaccines that they can afford.

Today, four out of five children now receive routine vaccines and are protected from death, disease and disability. The numbers of people with polio are down 99 percent, and measles deaths in Africa are down 90percent. Immunization is estimated to save between 2and 3million lives each year, and the prevention of these childhood diseases is one of the greatest success stories in global public health.

But how did we get from a great idea to great results?

Thirty seven years ago, a World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution set an ambitious agenda for humanity. The Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) tasked the World Health Organization (WHO) with supporting immunization programmes in developing countries to increase vaccination coverage and help them obtain good quality vaccines at an affordable cost. In 2005, WHO adopted the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy, which took this even further.

But challenges remain. About 23 million infants worldwide are still not protected from life-threatening diseases. Many of them live in developing countries that are proving difficult to reach with vaccines.

Developing vaccines and getting them to every part of the world, regardless of a country’s ability to pay, is a complex and daunting task. Partners are a key part of the world’s machinery against diseases. The WHO and other United Nations agencies, the GAVI Alliance, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation work through dynamic partnership to focus international attention on the importance of immunization.

Immunization can significantly contribute to achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). With less than four years until the 2015 deadline, I urge countries to realize that vision. We must keep our promises by getting back on track to meet the global goals, and we need to do this together. Everyone – from world leaders to individuals – has a role to play to help save millions of lives in years to come.

It’s time to give more children a shot at life.

Dr. Margaret Chan is the Director-General of the World Health Organization.