This page is background information, last updated in May 2002 and still available for reference. For the latest on the Special Session on Children, please go to the Special Session index.

Press kit

Issues & Information
Immunization Plus

Nearly 11 million children under five years of age die each year, mainly from diseases that could have been prevented with one to three doses of readily available vaccines. Millions more children are weakened or disabled by these same diseases.

Immunization for preventable diseases is every child’s right. Routine immunization of children is necessary to secure every child’s right to health.

Immunization is a key step in the fight against poverty. Immunization and micronutrients such as vitamin A and iodine are among the most cost-effective and successful ways to combat poverty. One dose of measles vaccine costs 11 cents, yet every year many millions of dollars are spent and countless days of school and work productivity are lost because of illness and preventable disease. Once the world is polio-free, about $1.5 billion in savings will be available to fund other development priorities.

Strengthening immunization delivery services bolsters a country’s entire health care system.
Equipping a country to deliver sustained routine immunization contributes significantly to reinforcing the country’s entire health system _ increasing health workers’ skills, improving the safety and quantity of medical supplies, enabling the detection of other diseases and upgrading existing communications and transportation infrastructure.

Progress on meeting the goals of the World Summit for Children

Of the 27 goals set at the 1990 World Summit for Children, the following six are directly related to immunization and micronutrients:

• DPT: The Summit goal was to achieve and maintain a 90 per cent coverage rate for routine immunization of DPT. (DPT combines doses of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccine; three vaccinations – DPT3 – are needed for full protection.) This goal has not been reached on a global basis.

By 2000, global coverage of DPT3 had nearly reached 75 per cent overall, but coverage in sub-Saharan Africa has fallen and worldwide approximately 34 million children are not reached by routine immunization. The majority live in extreme poverty or are affected by armed conflict or discrimination and thus the most difficult to reach.

• Polio:The 1990 goal was global eradication of polio by 2000. This goal has not fully been reached but extraordinary progress has been made. More than 175 countries are now polio-free and the number of polio cases has declined from an estimated 350,000 in 1988 to fewer than 3,000 reported in 2000.

The partners in the polio eradication initiative, led by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Rotary International and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expect to be able to certify the world polio-free by 2005.

• Measles: The 1990 goal was a 95 per cent reduction in measles deaths and a 90 per cent reduction in measles cases by 1995. There has been a reduction by nearly 40 per cent in reported cases.

• Neonatal tetanus: The 1990 goal was total elimination of neonatal tetanus, an often fatal disease causedby bacteria associated most frequently with non-sterile delivery of newborns. The disease has not been eliminated, but 104 of 161 developing countries have achieved the goal and deaths have declined by more than half between 1990 and 2000.
• Vitamin A deficiency: The World Summit goal was virtual elimination by 2000 of vitamin A deficiency. Vitamin A, critical to the body’s ability to fight infection, can reduce child deaths from common diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria and measles by as much as 25 per cent. For children lacking foods high in vitamin A in their diet, two vitamin capsules per year, costing just a few cents, are essential.Vitamin A deficiency has not been eliminated but tremendous progress has been made. In 1996, 11 countries had a 70 per cent vitamin A supplementation rate. By 2000, this had jumped to 43 countries. It is estimated that between 1998 and 2000 as many as 1 million child deaths may have been prevented through vitamin A supplements.

• Iodine deficiency disorders: The World Summit goal was virtual elimination by 2000 of iodine deficiency disorders. One of the greatest success stories of the goals set in 1990 is that 90 million newborns are protected every year from the symptoms of iodine deficiency, which can include severe retardation, significant loss in learning ability and goitre. This goal has been achieved by iodizing the salt used for consumption, and is due to the concerted efforts of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, national governments and salt producers. In 1990, fewer than 20 per cent of households in the developing world used iodized salt; by 2000, 70 per cent of households did.

Unfinished agenda: Millions of children continue to die from vaccine-preventable diseases

We know how to achieve universal immunization. But with approximately 30 million infants still not reached by routine vaccination, it is time for action! Compared to what is spent on armaments or luxuries, the resources needed to provide for the basic health needs of children are modest and affordable. That is why the United Nations General Assembly’s Special Session on Children must inspire the vision and commitment needed to take action. Leaders must redirect resources within national budgets, mobilize and provide resources and expertise from the global community, civil society organizations and the private sector, to provide every child with the benefits of one of medical science’s greatest inventions – immunization against preventable diseases.

New partnerships are re-energizing commitments to immunization. One major achievement in responding to stagnating global immunization rates and widening disparities in access to vaccines is the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), formed in 1999. This powerful alliance* is dedicated to reaching the 30 million to 40 million children in developing countries who are not covered by routine immunization services. GAVI also works to ensure that children in developing countries have access to the effective newer vaccines already widely used in industrialized countries, such as those for hepatitis B and yellow fever, and to spur the development of new vaccines for the diseases most prevalent in poorer countries.

 

* The GAVI partners are UNICEF (current Chair of the Board), the World Health Organization, the World Bank group, the Bill and Melinda
Gates Children’s Vaccine Programme at PATH, the Rockefeller Foundation, the pharmaceutical vaccine industry, national governments and
others.