World Health Organization perspectives on the contribution of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization on reducing child mortality

Abstract

Child mortality has decreased substantially globally—from 12.6 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013—due, in large part to of governments’ and organisations’ work, to prevent pneumonia, diarrhoea and malaria, the main causes of death in the postneonatal period. In 2012, the World Health Assembly adopted the Decade of Vaccines Global Vaccine Action Plan 2011–2020 as the current framework aimed at preventing millions of deaths through more equitable access to existing vaccines for people in all communities. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) plays a critical role in this effort by financing and facilitating delivery platforms for vaccines, with focused support for the achievements of improved vaccination coverage and acceleration of the uptake of WHO-recommended lifesaving new vaccines in 73 low-income countries. The GAVI Alliance has contributed substantially towards the progress of Millennium Development Goal 4 and to improving women's lives. By 2013, the GAVI Alliance had immunised 440 million additional children and averted six million future deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases in the world's poorest countries. The GAVI Alliance is on track to reducing child mortality to 68 per 1000 live births by 2015 in supported countries. This paper discusses the GAVI Alliance achievements related to Millennium Development Goal 4 and its broader contribution to improving women's lives and health systems, as well as challenges and obstacles it has faced. Additionally, it looks at challenges for the future and how it will continue its work related to reducing child mortality and improving women's health.

Timeliness of vaccination in infants followed by primary-care pediatricians in France

“…[10][11][12] It showed still insufficient coverage rates for MMR and MenC vaccines regarding the WHO objectives. 1 Despite a satisfactory immunization coverage rates at 2, 4 or 11 months of age (> 89%), a potentially dangerous immunization delay as previously defined was observed in an important number of cases: 13 to 58% of vaccine doses according to vaccine type. Overall, 47% of children presented at least one potentially dangerous immunization delay before the age of 24 months, with longer delay for the vaccines most recently introduced such as the MenC.…”

“…Objective of the World Health Organization (WHO) Expanded Program on Immunization is to increase rates of childhood immunization to over 90 percent worldwide in order to reduce global childhood morbidity and mortality due to vaccine-preventable diseases (VPD). 1 Vaccination coverage was the main indicator of immunization, but several studies showed that up-to-date vaccination does not mean age-appropriate vaccination. [2][3][4][5][6] Delayed immunization recently appeared as a key element in the risk reduction of VPD, especially when epidemic peak is close to the recommended age of vaccination.…”

Vaccine coverage within the first year of life and associated factors with incomplete immunization in a Brazilian birth cohort

“…Vaccines were one of the greatest public health achievements in the twentieth century, being the safest and most cost-effective intervention to control infectious diseases [1,2]. However, still exist a high number of children with incomplete vaccination coverage, which represents a risk to the resurgence of diseases that are under control and to the reintroduction of those already eliminated [3].…”

Locals get travellers’ diarrhoea too: risk factors for diarrhoeal illness and pathogenic Escherichia coli infection across an urban‐rural gradient in Ecuador

“…Diarrhoeal diseases are a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality, with an estimated 1.3 million deaths annually, and up to half a million deaths each year among children under five . Diarrhoea disproportionally affects people living in low‐ and middle‐ income countries (LMICs) .…”