Centre de presse

Faits sur les enfants

Immunisation

Since the expanded programme on immunization was launched in 1974, immunization coverage of infants for the six major vaccine-preventable diseases - diphtheria, measles, pertussis, polio, tetanus and tuberculosis - has risen from less than five per cent to almost 78 per cent in 2004.

In 2004, an estimated 27 million infants did not receive three doses of DPT3 - one in every five live births.  An estimated 1.4 million children under five died from the six major vaccine-preventable diseases, with a further 1.1 million deaths from pneumonia and rotavirus (these vaccines are under development and hopefully will soon be available).

It is estimated that the vaccinations done in 2003 alone will prevent more than two million deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases and an additional 600,000 deaths related to hepatitis B that would otherwise have occurred in adulthood among the children immunized in that year.
Despite these achievements, in 2003 an estimated 27 million infants and 40 million pregnant women remained in need of immunization.

UNICEF's Role in Immunization - Frequently Used Figures

UNICEF is a world leader in vaccine supply and immunization, supplying vaccines for some 40 per cent of the world's children.
In 2004, UNICEF provided approximately 2.8 billion doses (US $374 million) of vaccine to children in more than 100 countries.
OR
UNICEF is the leading agency for vaccine procurement. In 2005 UNICEF procured vaccines for 40 per cent of children in developing countries, the equivalent of over three billion doses, worth $430 million.

Financing - Frequently Used Figures

10 million additional lives could be saved through child and maternal immunization between 2006-2015 at an average annual cost of US$1 billion.  The estimated US$2.5 billion current annual spending on immunization in the poorest countries would need to increase to US$3.5 billion by 2010 and US$4 billion by 2015 to reach this goal.

Spending on vaccines in the 72 poorest countries supported by GAVI has doubled from US$2.50 per child in 2000 to more than US$ 5.00 per child in 2005. 

In 2004, the poorest countries financed, on average, 38 per cent of their immunization expenses.  Immunization is a global public good and until these countries are able to take on a greater proportion of their immunization expenses, it is in the interest of resource-rich countries to cover some of the long-term costs.  In an interconnected global community, there is an increasing vulnerability to the spread of disease, making immunization even more critical.

Other Antigens

• The global coverage of infants receiving DTP3 - the benchmark indicator of annual routine immunization coverage - was 78 per cent in 2004, compared with 75 per cent in 1990
• one in every six infants is not immunized against TB
• one in every four children is not immunized against measles
• Only half the world's infants are fully immunized against hepatitis B
• Only 64 per cent of newborns are protected against tetanus
• In 10 countries - Nigeria, Somalia, Liberia, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, CAR, Haiti, Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu (listed in ascending order of coverage) - routine immunization coverage is less than 50 per cent, leaving 4.3 million infants unvaccinated.
• However, absolute numbers of unvaccinated infants are highest in the most populous developing countries, some of which enjoy fairly high levels of national rates of immunization coverage.  Five of the world's 10  most populous countries - India, Nigeria, Pakistan, China and Indonesia - each have more than one million infants who have not received DTP3; taken together, these five countries account for 60 per cent (16.3 million) of the world's 27 million unvaccinated children.