More vaccines for poor could save 6.4 million lives

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/06/09/uk-vaccines-coverage-idUKTRE7583T520110609

(Reuters) - Millions of children's lives and billions of dollars could be saved if vaccines were more widely available in 72 of the world's poorest countries, according to a series of studies published on Thursday.

In studies in the Health Affairs and The Lancet journals, public health experts and scientists projected that if 90 percent of children in those countries were immunised, more than $151 billion (92.2 billion pounds) in treatment costs and lost productivity could be saved in 10 years, giving economic benefits of $231 billion.

Some 6.4 million lives could also be saved, they found.

Yet one study, by the donor-funded Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) and the Results for Development Institute, found that poor nations are hard-pressed to pay for vaccine programmes without help from outside donors.

It's not hard to get many if not all of the vaccine doses covered by grants and donations.

The hard part is actually getting the stuff in to the places you need to go. Many, I'll even say almost all, vaccines need to be kept in climate controlled environments throughout their useful lifespan and a lot of places that need vaccines the most have no electricity and such a useless infrastructure you may need to fly the medicine in.

than say full blown clinics, hospitals, etc.

and they would make a huge positive effect for many families.

:kick: