Vaccination is unquestionably one of the most powerful and cost-effective public health measures available. Despite this, vaccination remain undervalued and underutilised, and there are numerous challenges to optimal uptake of vaccines.
We all take small steps every day to protect ourselves and our loved ones.
But have we thought about all of the valuable steps we can take?
On 27 January 2015 partners of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, will gather in Berlin, Germany to back Gavi’s ambitious plan to immunise an additional 300 million children against potentially fatal diseases between 2016 and 2020 and save a further five to six million lives.
Measles and polio are deadly diseases that have been long forgotten in Europe. In Mali, however, reality is quite different. The recent armed conflict in the north of the country has not only forced thousands of people to flee their homes, but has also caused outbreaks of infections such as measles or cholera among children. In an attempt to alleviate the effects of the war on the most vulnerable, health workers from a coalition of NGOs have recently carried out a 10-day campaign to vaccinate thousands of children.
Immunisation is recognised as one of the most efficient, successful and cost-effective health investments in history. One in five of all children who die before the age of five lose their lives to vaccine preventable diseases. More than 22 million children are still not vaccinated against common but life-threatening diseases.
