Study: Tens of millions of poor children lack vaccines

Oct 21, 2009, 13:32 GMT

Geneva - Some 20 per cent of children born each year, mostly in the poorest parts of the globe, remain without life saving inoculations, a new international study released Wednesday showed.

The main reason for the lack of vaccines for those roughly 24 million children was a lack of funds, the report by the World Health organization, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank said.

'At least an additional 1 billion dollars per year will be needed to ensure that new and existing vaccines will be delivered to all children in the 72 poorest countries,' the agencies said in The State of World's Vaccines and Immunizations.

Some 120 vaccines are now available against deadly diseases and more organizations are involved in creating and distributing the doses, including the cash-rich Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A record 106 million infants were immunized in 2008, and with campaigns constantly being rolled out by governments and charities, the industry has received a massive boost.

The global vaccine market has tripled over the last eight years, reaching more than 17 billion dollars in revenue, the report said, adding that it was 'one of the fastest growing sectors of industry.'

The cost of giving the doses has also risen rapidly over the last three decades in the developing world. In the 1980s, countries spent an average of 3.50-5.0 dollars per live birth on vaccines. By next year, the cost will be 18 dollars and is then expected to hit 30 dollars per live birth.

Measles deaths fell by 74 per cent between 2000 and 2007, the report showed, giving credit to vaccinations.

More generally, vaccines are believed to save 2.5 million lives each year, the report said, and if the left-out children received doses, another 2 million could be spared early death.

The number of annual child deaths has dropped below 10 million, for the first time since documentation began, in part due to vaccinations, but also as access to clean water and better health services increased.

The UN agencies and the World Bank warned in the report that progress made could be reversed if the achievements of the last decade were not kept up in a sustainable manner over time. They also noted that vaccines had not yet been invented for malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS, which are estimated to kill 4 million people a year.