UNICEF: Political support crucial to reach ‘the fifth child’ with vaccines
Media Release – 19 April 2013
Excerpt
“…One and a half million children would not have died in 2011 had they been immunized, according to UNICEF at the start of World Immunization Week. But one in five children is not being reached with vital vaccines due to social or geographical exclusion, lack of resources, weak health systems or conflicts such as those raging today in Syria and parts of West Africa…
In 2011, however, 22.4 million children were not immunized – an increase of over one million from the preceding year.
UNICEF is concerned that global efforts to vaccinate every child are plateauing as funding falls and political will stagnates. In 2011, only 152 out of 193 World Health Organization member states had dedicated budget lines for immunization.
Inequalities persist within and between countries. Children from wealthy families have the greatest access to the best health services in any given country, and they enjoy the highest rates of immunization coverage.
Unless disparities are addressed every last child cannot be immunized, says UNICEF. At the same time, investment in routine immunization as part of improved health care systems will benefit all children – thus further reducing inequities. To do so, governments have to provide sufficient funding and innovation should be encouraged – such as the recent introduction of vaccines against pneumonia and diarrhoea.
And, most importantly, unwavering political support is needed to extend the benefits of vaccines to children living in the poorest families and the most remote communities.
UNICEF’s unique position
UNICEF procures vaccines that reach 36 per cent of the world’s children. In 2012, UNICEF procured almost 1.9 billion doses of vaccine and over 500 million syringes. As the largest buyer of vaccines in the world, UNICEF works to keep vaccine prices at levels that low- and middle-income countries can afford. UNICEF and its partners supported immunization programmes in over 100 countries last year…”
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 