Opting In: The Value of Vaccines

A young boy in Pakistan receives an oral polio vaccine (OPV). Over the last 30 years huge progress has been made against polio and it is now only endemic in 2 countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with only 33 cases confirmed cases last year. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPSBy Tharanga YakupitiyageUNITED NATIONS, May 1 2019 (IPS) Since the introduction of vaccines, diseases such as measles and polio were quickly becoming a thing of the past. However, the world’s progress on immunisation is now being threatened. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), 85 percent of the world’s children received basic vaccines, including the measles and diptheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccines, which can protect them from infectious diseases that cause serious illness and even death. In fact, measles immunisation resulted in an 80 percent drop in measles-related deaths between 2000 and 2017 worldwide. Still, access to vaccines remain elusive for many out-of-reach communities. In 2017, an estimated 20 million infants did not receive the DTP vaccine, 60 percent of whom live in just 10 countries, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, and Nigeria. A rising anti-vaccination movement is also threatening to dismantle progress. In the United States, there are now more than 700 cases of measles across 22 states making it the highest figures the country has seen since 2000. The phenomenon has prompted some states to not only make immunisation mandatory, but also to...
Source: IPS Inter Press Service - Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Authors: Tags: Featured Global Headlines Health IPS UN: Inside the Glasshouse North America Population Regional Categories TerraViva United Nations diptheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) human papillomavirus (HPV) Measles Vaccines World Health Organ Source Type: news