Uganda has virtually eliminated a deadly strain of meningitis thanks to vaccines funded by the GAVI Alliance initiative, the public-private partnership has announced, according to The World Bank Press Review.
Hib meningitis (Haemophilus influenzae type b) has been virtually wiped out in the East African country just five years after the vaccine was introduced nationwide, GAVI said in a statement.
Hib kills around 400,000 children under the age of five each year, mostly in the developing world.
Uganda introduced 16.5 million doses of Hib vaccines from 2002 to 2006 thanks to support from the GAVI initiative.
RESULTAT MED PERSPEKTIV
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the vaccination program in Uganda is now preventing almost 30,000 cases of severe Hib disease and 5,000 child deaths every year in that country.
The breakthrough in Uganda follows similar results in Bangladesh, Kenya, Chile, and the Gambia, as well as Britain and the United States.
In all cases, Hib vaccine was shown to cut the incidence of disease by 88 percent or more in 3 to 5 years.
ET SPØRGSMÅL OM PRIS
The vaccine has existed since 1991 but was rare in the third world until the creation of the alliance – originally the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization – in 2000.
Even at prices offered to poor countries, it had cost $7, (33 d. kr.) seven times as much as other vaccines.
The alliance joins UN health agencies, the World Bank, vaccine companies, universities and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and receives money from the International Finance Facility for Immunization.
By guaranteeing large orders, the alliance tries to drive down the price of vaccines.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
