South Africa: How Changing Vaccine Schedules Can Save Costs and Lives

[The Conversation Africa] In 2005, before most low- and middle-income countries started vaccinating children routinely for pneumococcal disease, it caused approximately 1.5 million deaths worldwide annually. About 700,000 to 1 million of these deaths were in children under five years. Pneumococcal disease occurs when Streptococcus pneumoniae invades a normally sterile area of the body, causing meningitis, pneumonia, septicaemia or other disease syndromes. Case fatality rates are very high for septicaemia (>20%) and meningitis (&
Source: AllAfrica News: Health and Medicine - Category: African Health Source Type: news