A baby born in sub-Saharan Africa or in Southern Asia was nine times more likely to die in the first month than a baby born in a high-income country. Yet progress to saving newborns has not been slower than for other children under five years of age since 1990. In 2017, half of all deaths…
Ebola vaccine to help tackle DRC outbreak
Gavi has released US$1 million towards deployment of the Ebola vaccine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to boost efforts to contain the disease. Gavi’s funding will support the deployment of health workers, transport, critical supplies and other operations. The vaccination will be implemented by the Government of DRC and partners including WHO,…
Crisis of invisibility in Sub-Saharan Africa: Less than 1 in 2 births registered
Ninety-five million children have not had their births registered across Sub Saharan Africa, and if decisive action is not taken, these numbers will soar to 115 million by 2030, UNICEF said today. According to UNICEF, the data has been released so as to prioritise birth registration as a first and critical step to a functional…
Sierra Leone to begin cholera vaccination drive in disaster-affected areas
Half a million people in Sierra Leone will be able to access the life-saving cholera vaccine within weeks, the country’s Ministry of Health and Sanitation announced on Tuesday. The vaccines will be received from the Gavi-funded global stockpile and will target areas particularly affected by August’s floods and deadly landslide, which resulted in over 500…
GAVI warns that vaccine progress in developing countries ‘in danger of stalling
New WHO/UNICEF figures released this week show that in 68 of the world’s poorest countries, while close to a million more children received the basic diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine in 2016 compared to 2015, the coverage rate has remained at 80% for the past three years. Millions of children remain under-vaccinated in countries torn apart by conflict,…
Outdated Vaccine Delivery Systems impede their impact, Researchers Say
Four in 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa are impacted by vaccine stockouts leading to 89 percent probability that immunization delivery services will be compromised, a collection of new articles published today in Vaccine journal shows. According to the collection, outdated vaccine supply and distribution systems are delaying and limiting the impact that vaccines have on…
Africa unified against threat of polio
More than 190 000 polio vaccinators in 13 countries across west and central Africa will immunize more than 116 million children over the next week, to tackle the last remaining stronghold of polio on the continent. The synchronized vaccination campaign, one of the largest of its kind ever implemented in Africa, is part of urgent…
WHO and partners reach 1.1 million South Sudanese children with oral polio vaccines
The third round of the National Immunization Days of 2016 campaign in South Sudan targeting more than 3.5 million children aged 0 – 59 months ran successfully despite ongoing violence. The four-day campaign from 15 to 18 November 2016 was organized and led by the Ministry of Health with support from WHO and UNICEF using…