12.9 million children under the age of one, almost one in ten, did not receive any vaccine in 2016. This means that one in ten children worldwide is at risk of catching diphtheria, the tetanus or the whooping coughaccording to new report from the World Health Organization (WHO)which recalls that among the children who were injected with the first dose of these vaccines, approximately 6.6 million did not receive the three initial doses of DTCoq and are therefore not protected.
“Vaccination would prevent between 2 and 3 million deaths each year due to diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough or measles”, according to the WHO.
An imbalance in the world
The Global Vaccine Action Plan 2011-2020 had set vaccination coverage at 90%, but since 2010, the rate of vaccination infants stagnates at 86%.
While 130 of the 194 Member States of the WHO have reached or even exceeded the national rate of 90% DTCoq vaccination in infants, for the remaining 64 countries, 10 million infants would need to be vaccinated to reach this coverage. essential for the protection of the population. Eight countries (Central African Republic, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Ukraine) still have vaccination rates below 50%.
“Most of the children who are not immunized are the same ones who escape health systems,” said Dr. Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, Director of Immunization and Vaccines at WHO. “These children have most likely not received any of the basic health services. If we are to increase the overall immunization coverage rate, health services must reach those who are not,” he added.
Of the 10 million unvaccinated infants, 7.3 million live in countries devastated by conflict and humanitarian crises. They are thus 4 million in Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan.
“Four million of them are in three countries: Afghanistan, Nigeria and Pakistan, where access to routine immunization services is critical to achieving and sustaining polio eradication,” said Dr. Jean-Marie Okwo. -Beautiful.
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