37 countries receive vaccine funding for children's protection
As of September- October 2011, the GAVI Alliance will provide funding for children vaccines in 37 developing countries. The majority of these funds will be given for providing rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines for children.
The announcement was made on the 26th of September, and the funds were split into the following categories: 16 countries receive funds for rotavirus vaccine, 18 for pneumococcal vaccine, 5 for pentavalent vaccine and 12 more for other types of vaccines. Some of the 37 have received funding for more than one vaccine (like Angola or Armenia) and 24 countries are in Africa, where most of the poor countries of the world are.
The rotavirus vaccine is designed to protect children against rotaviruses, one of the main causes for severe diarrhea in children and infants. This virus is the main cause of death for over 500.000 children annually.
In Mexico, before the introduction of the rotavirus vaccine, the severe diarrhea was the cause of 50% of the deaths for children. After the introduction of the vaccine, the number of deaths was reduced by over 46%.
Pneumonia is the cause of death for over half a million children annually across the world. Basically, it is an inflammatory condition of the lung and is usually caused by an infection with different agents like bacteria viruses etc. The symptoms usually include fever, chest pain and a lack of air space which can be seen through an X-Ray. The most affected area is in Africa, and this is why the GAVI Alliance decided to give to 12 countries in Africa the necessary funds for the pneumococcal vaccine.
These funds will be given by the Gavi Alliance, a partnership of private and public sectors which has as a main drive protecting people's health from poor countries and saving children's lives by providing higher access to immunization tools.
The Alliance has as a main goal to introduce in 40 poor and developing countries the pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccine by 2015 and immunize over 50 million children against the rotavirus and 90 million children against the pneumococcal disease.
