Immunisation and Inequality in 2016

A child receives an oral polio vaccine in Peshawar, Pakistan. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.By Andy HazelUNITED NATIONS, Dec 30 2016 (IPS)Childhood immunisation is one of the safest and most cost-effective health interventions available, yet many of the world’s most vulnerable children continue to miss out.A World Health Organisation report entitled State of inequality: childhood immunisation was released last week. While the report is mostly good news, immunisation rates are up and many countries have eradicated diseases entirely, a large population of children remain unimmunised.To better reach these children the authors also looked at another metric: disease as a marker of inequality. Or, in the words of Robin Nandy, Principal Adviser and Chief of Immunisation at UNICEF, “a virus doesn’t lie”.“The presence of disease is the best indicator of where a bigger problem is,” he explains. “Diseases tend to show up where there are weak systems of health coverage and in areas of conflict.”“It is very likely that where there is low immunisation coverage there are multiple deprivations.”“The nutritional status of the kids in these areas could be compromised, they could lack water or sanitation, common childhood illnesses such as diarrhoea or pneumonia could be present.”Using data from 69 countries, the study examined inequality amongst rates of childhood immunisation and measured changes in rates of immunisation over the last ten years. ...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Tags: Health Inequity immunisation Polio United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) World Health Organization (WHO) Source Type: news