Support UNICEF China

Join Pampers in Supporting UNICEF's Expanded Programme for Immunization

One Pack = One Donation

From September through November 2009, Pampers and UNICEF will join together in the "One Pack = One Donation" campaign to raise funds to help vaccinate the most disadvantaged Chinese children.

During this period, for every pack of Pampers featuring the UNICEF logo purchased, Pampers will make a donation to UNICEF. Pampers' retail partners are also enthusiastic about helping the cause too. For every pack sold in their stores, these companies will make 2 donations to UNICEF, making 3 donations in total. Each individual donation counts for US 5 cents.

With the generous support of Pampers and its partners – and parents whose purchases of Pampers will help make this partnership successful – UNICEF will be able to support the vaccination of China's most disadvantaged children against vaccine-preventable diseases.

The Issue

China established a national immunization programme in 1978. With major effort, China achieved the internationally accepted goal of 85% coverage of the four basic vaccines: tuberculosis (BCG), diphtheria/pertussis/tetanus (DPT), polio (OPV) and measles in each county by 1990.

In 2002, the Ministry of Health added Hepatitis B vaccine to the routine immunization schedule. The 2005 the Government mandated free provision of immunizations. In 2008, the national immunization schedule was expanded from five vaccines against seven infectious diseases to eleven vaccines against twelve infectious diseases. The 11th Five Year National Plan requires child immunization coverage of at least 90%.

However, China still faces challenges in implementing its immunization programme. The 2004 National Survey discovered in the 273 counties investigated, coverage of the four basic vaccines was below 85% in 74 counties. Hepatitis B vaccination had stalled with 72 counties failing to meet the target of 85%, and 60% of children not receiving the 1st dose of Hepatitis B within 24 hours of birth in 9 provinces. A 2006 survey by UNICEF in 4 poor western provinces found that vaccination coverage was below 50% in some counties, and Hepatitis B birth dose coverage was below 20%.

Disparities in health indicators and access to health services have increased between urban and rural areas. There has been substantial erosion in the quality of the public health system in recent years due to a previous privatization policy that reduced access for care and preventive services for the poor. Government funding is insufficient to cover immunization operational costs, particularly in poor and western provinces. This led to an increase in the number of outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles.

UNICEF China's Disease Control Project is intended to promote greater government responsibility for preventive health services, and build capacity for disease surveillance. One major component of this Project is a set of activities to strengthen routine immunization the poorest counties by modelling activities that can be scaled up throughout the country.

Routine immunization targets children in the first year of life, but some vaccines are also given beyond this period. Therefore, all children under six are defined as beneficiaries of the immunization programme.

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