The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7225 p733
23 November 2002

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WHO: State of the World's Vaccines and Immunization 2002 (more)

WHO calls for more international aid to pay for vaccination programmes

More international aid is needed to pay for vaccination programmes in developing countries, according to the World Health Organization.

Currently, nearly three-quarters of the world's children are being reached with essential vaccines, but there are wide variations. Children in developed nations have access to newer and more expensive vaccines against major childhood infections, including hepatitis and Haemophilus influenzae infection.

But only half of children in sub-Saharan Africa have access to basic immunisation against common diseases such as tuberculosis, measles, tetanus and whooping cough. In poor and isolated areas of developing countries, vaccines reach fewer than one in 20 children.

A joint WHO, UNICEF and World Bank report, published this week, cites low donor investment as one of the major reasons for the gaps in coverage. External aid to developing countries for immunisation currently stands at approximately $1.56bn a year. An extra $250m a year would mean that at least 10 million more children could have basic vaccinations, and a further $100m a year would cover the cost of newer vaccines, including hepatitis B and Hib. "In wealthy countries we tend to take the absence of certain illnesses for granted," said Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO director-general.

"But in many regions of the world it is more the rule than the exception for children to die of common childhood conditions such as measles, which alone causes about 700,000 deaths a year. We need to act fast and effectively to ensure that children and adults everywhere have access to life-saving vaccines. From a global perspective, this is the only way of avoiding major epidemics of new and old diseases," she said.

It is estimated that hepatitis B causes 520,000 deaths every year worldwide and Haemophilus influenzae type B kills 450,000 children in developing countries, but the report says that a low level of investment in immunisation within developing countries themselves is another contributing factor to low vaccination coverage. The report can be found here.