WHO/UNICEF: Immunization Summary 2008 - A Statistical Reference [PDF]

The challenge

Immunization, one of the most important and cost-effective public health interventions, has saved over 20 million lives in the last two decades and protected countless children from illness and disability. It is an affordable means of protecting whole communities and of reducing poverty.

Immunization coverage for the six major vaccine-preventable diseases - pertussis, childhood tuberculosis, tetanus, polio, measles and diphtheria - has risen significantly since the Expanded Programme on Immunization began in 1974. In 1980, DTP3 coverage was estimated at less than 5 per cent of the world's children immunization in the first year of life; it had increased to an estimated 79 per cent by the end of 2006. Polio is on the verge of eradication. Deaths from measles, a major killer Deaths from measles, a major killer, declined by 60 per cent worldwide and by 72 per cent in Sub-Saharan Africa between 1999 and 2005. Immunization against tetanus has saved hundreds of thousands of mothers and newborns, and only 47 developing countries (as of September 2007) still need to eliminate the disease altogether.

However, immunization coverage has still not realized its potential, leaving millions of children unprotected. Vaccine security is fundamental to meeting immunization goals, and long-term funding remains a serious issue as neither developing country governments nor the international community have made firm commitments.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) has developed financial sustainability plans for countries eligible for support. But mobilizing and securing adequate funding will also require stronger political will, better management and greater advocacy.