World week of vaccination 2015: gaps in vaccination
24 April-30, 2015
World vaccination week, celebrated the last week of April (from 24 to 30), aims to promote the use of vaccines to protect people of all ages of the disease.
Lifelong protection
Vaccination is widely recognized as one of the most effective health interventions andhaving one of the best cost-efficiency ratio. It avoids 2 to 3 million deaths per yearand protects now children not only against diseases for which vaccines exist for manyyears, such as diphtheria, tetanus, polio and measles, but from diseases likepneumonia and rotavirus diarrhoea, two of the leading causes of mortality for childrenunder five.
Today, thanks to new and sophisticated vaccines, adolescents and adults can beprotected against life-threatening diseases such as influenza, meningitis and some cancers (cervical and liver).
However one child in five still eludes vaccination: in 2013, it is estimated that 21.8million infants did not receive life-saving vaccines. The reasons include insufficientsupply of vaccines, the lack of access to health services, lack of accurate informationon vaccination and political support and insufficient financial.
Gaps in vaccination
The global 2015 immunization week will signal of global, regional and national effortsrenewed to accelerate action towards increased demand for vaccination andawareness of the communities, and improve immunization services.
This year's campaign theme is the gaps and achieve equity in immunization, asoutlined in the Plan of action for vaccines. This Plan, approved by the 194 MemberStates of the World Health Assembly of the in may 2012, sets a framework for actionthat would prevent millions of deaths by 2020 through universal access to vaccines forall.
The Global Plan of action for vaccines is intended to:
strengthen routine immunization to achieve the objectives of immunization coverage;
accelerate the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases through vaccination byachieving as a first step to eradicate polio;
introducing new vaccines improved; and
stimulate research and the development of the next generation of vaccines andtechnologies.