By Humanosphere
The global health strategy to expand childhood immunizations, largely backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is too focused on new vaccines and neglects the fundamental need to improve basic public health and immunization programs in poor countries. So says Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF), aka Doctors Without Borders, in a new report issued today … Continue reading →
Aeras and the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) – two non-profit product development partnerships (PDPs) – announced Wednesday they will be joining together to develop IDRI’s novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine candidate ID93/GLA-SE. The compound contains an IDRI-designed recombinant fusion-protein antigen (a protein substance foreign to the body that stimulates the immune system’s production of antibodies (Read more…)
In this post in PSI’s “Healthy Lives” blog, Deputy Editor Tom Murphy examines routine vaccination solutions in Nigeria, where “[t]he Decade of Vaccines Economics projects 90 percent vaccine coverage against Hib, pneumococcal disease, rotavirus, measles and pertussis can save 600,000 lives and $17 billion in Nigeria over the next 10 years.” Murphy highlights a “new report [.pdf] by the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC) at Johns Hopkins University [that] identifies the challenges and solutions to increasing routine vaccinations in” the country, noting it also “identifies supply, human resource and demand solutions to increasing vaccination access” (5/8).
By SciDev.net
Researchers say they have identified whooping cough in previously vaccinated children, a finding rejected by health officials.
In a Huffington Post Blog opinion piece, Orin Levine, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC), describes watching the suffering of an infant with severe pneumonia and his parents while in Ghana on Thursday, writing that the experience was “a personal reminder as to why our work to prevent disease is so perilous, and why disease control so promising in Africa.” Noting that last year in Ghana, “approximately 50,000 young children — nearly seven out of every 100 — died before their fifth birthday,” Levine adds, “I also saw the promise of prevention in Ghana,” with the launch of an immunization campaign to provide both pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines. With support from the GAVI Alliance, Ghana is the first country in Africa to introduce two new vaccines against pneumonia and diarrhea at the same time,” he notes.
April 27, 2012 Vaccines against rotavirus and diarrhea are making a big difference in Ghana. Reuters reports on the new developments and why it is exciting news. Treating rotavirus diarrhea among Ghana’s children costs an estimated $3.2 million a year, but a recent study found that giving rotavirus shots to children under five would be highly cost-effective, saving the country $1.7 million in treatment costs and 1,554 children’s lives every year. While the immediate benefits of vaccinating children against these killers are clear in terms of saving lives and reducing disease, Ghana is also looking at long-term pay-back. Evidence suggests the value of vaccines goes beyond just health benefits. Healthier children are far more likely to attend school regularly, and studies show they also learn more effectively
Interactive Research and Development (IRD) is a non-profit organization based in Karachi, Pakistan, that aims toimprove the well-being of vulnerable communities through innovation in research and health delivery. IRD’s Interactive Alerts mHealth project was one of eight mHealth projects awarded funding in 2011 through the Innovation Working Group’s (IWG’s) three-year catalytic grants competition, managed by the mHealth Alliance. Interactive Alerts is a mobile phone-based vaccine registry system that utilizes SMS reminders to caregivers and conditional cash transfers to improve immunization coverage among children in and around Karachi, Pakistan. This program was created in direct response to the low childhood immunization coverage found in Karachi, despite efforts by the Pakistani Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) to improve immunization rates.
“For too long, there has been an unwritten rule that it can take 15 years or more before children in the poorest nations benefit from new life-saving vaccines in use in rich countries,” Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance, writes in this post in the Independent’s “Notebook” blog. “But national celebrations in Ghana this week show how this shameful gap is rapidly being closed,” he continues, noting, “This week the rotavirus vaccine to protect against severe diarrhea and the pneumococcal vaccine which targets the primary cause of pneumonia — the two biggest killers of children — are being introduced” in the country, making it the first in Africa to roll these vaccines out simultaneously.
“[S]tarting this week, Ghana will vaccinate the first babies in a new campaign against rotavirus — a cause of severe diarrhea — and pneumococcal disease, which causes pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis,” Reuters reports. The GAVI Alliance is supporting Ghana’s Expanded Programme on Immunisation in launching the campaign, the news service notes, adding, “While the immediate benefits of vaccinating children against these killers are clear in terms of saving lives and reducing disease, Ghana is also looking at long-term pay-back.”
By WHO News
Global partners launch new plan to control and eliminate measles and rubellaIncreasing measles outbreaks prove need to bolster investment and political commitment to reach global goalsNews release24 April 2012 | ATLANTA | GENEVA | NEW YORK | WASHINGTON, D.C – Today, the partners leading efforts to control measles announce a new global strategy aimed at reducing measles deaths and congenital rubella syndrome to zero.The announcement comes with the publication of new data using a state-of-the-art methodology showing that accelerated efforts to reduce measles deaths have resulted in a 74% reduction in global measles mortality, from an estimated 535 300 deaths in 2000 to 139 300 in 2010.Progress in sub-Saharan AfricaVaccination has been key to this progress. Through increased routine immunization coverage and large-scale immunization campaigns, sub-Saharan Africa made the most progress with an 85% drop in measles deaths between 2000 and 2010, according to a new study published in today’s Lancet.Vaccinating over a billion childrenSince 2001, the Measles Initiative has supported developing countries to vaccinate over one billion children against measles. Now, in keeping with the new Global Measles and Rubella Strategic Plan to control and eventually eliminate measles and rubella, the initiative is called the Measles & Rubella Initiative. Measles and rubella elimination naturally go hand-in-hand, as measles and rubella vaccines are routinely combined in a single shot.“A three-quarters drop in measles deaths worldwide shows just how effective well-run vaccination programmes can be,” says Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization . “Now we need to take the next logical step and vaccinate children against rubella, too.”Investment and political commitment are criticalThe new data underscores that progress in reducing measles deaths was especially strong from 2001 to 2008
Indian scientists are just weeks away from testing a new technology to combat the possibility of vaccines going bad in the box: using SMS (texting) to alert health officials when the temperature inside a box of vaccines rises too high.
Vaccination week for the Americas begins tomorrow. The 10th anniversary of the event will be celebrated thanks to the leadership of the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization. Last year’s Vaccine Week in the Americas saw 41.5 million people receive vaccines. The two largest populations to be vaccinated were children under five years old and the elderly who were given the influenza vaccine. PAHO Director Dr.
Every day, on every continent—on bikes, boats, or donkeys, and often by foot—vaccinators devote long hours to making sure that children receive the live-saving vaccines they need.
By Humanosphere
As physician-activist Paul Farmer said a while ago, if cholera had broken out in the U.S. everyone at risk would have been vaccinated. A year or so later, it’s happening for Haiti. Source: Trust Source: alertnet // Anastasia Moloney By Anastasia Moloney BOGOTA (AlertNet) – A nationwide vaccination campaign kicks off in Haiti on Saturday … Continue reading →
