DATA BRIEFS (continued) Hepatitis B: Menace for the poor Protection against hepatitis B, which claims approximately 1 million lives each year, is severely limited for children in many countries. WHO and UNICEF have recommended that the hepatitis B vaccine be included in every country's childhood immunization programme, and over 100 countries have done so. But 41 poor countries (with per capita incomes below $785) where hepatitis B is highly endemic* have been unable to afford the vaccine but have received no donor help. Of the 8 poor countries that have added the vaccine to their immunization programmes, 7 (Albania, Armenia, Gambia, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, the Republic of Moldova and Viet Nam) face uncertain funding for the vaccine in the future. In public sector programmes in developing countries, the cost to fully immunize a child against hepatitis B is $1.50, about twice that of immunizing against the six childhood diseases combined, but still highly cost-effective.
Low-income countries where hepatitis B is highly endemic* that have not added the vaccine to their childhood immunization programmes.
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