Vaccines : 20 million lives saved in poor countries

Panamerican Health Organization/Flickr

Published the 05.09.2017 at 18: 05

A A

Keywords :

vaccinaccès care

A time when rich countries are crossed by the questions on the merits of vaccination, poor countries, themselves, count the number of lives saved thanks to this preventive approach. Because unlike the first, low-income countries do not have the means of support to contain outbreaks of infectious diseases. Vaccination, therefore, has a role of paramount importance in those countries where the care is lacking.

Between 2001 and 2020, the vaccines against hepatitis B, hpv, measles, yellow fever, rotavirus, rubella, japanese encephalitis, and three bacterial strains that cause pneumonia and meningitis have saved 20 million lives in 73 poor countries, according to a study published in the bulletin of the World Health Organization (WHO).

600 million children protected

The researchers looked at the impact of the program, ” Gavi, the Alliance of the Vaccine “, which was launched in 2000 in order to immunize children in the poorest countries of the planet. Since then, the program has helped preserve nearly 600 million children.

But the lives saved are not the only benefit provided by vaccination of children. The researchers used a model to determine the costs and savings since the launch of this program and horizon 2020. The calculation is based on the health costs saved, but also the productivity gain linked to a vaccinated population and in better health.

According to their calculations, these vaccines will have, by 2020, to achieve more than five billion dollars on the treatment of patients. Vaccines against the bacteria that cause pneumonia and meningitis are those that offer the greatest economic benefits. In all, more than 820 billion dollars of savings have been made in the 73 countries.

500 million diseases prevented

During the same period, the researchers report a decrease of 500 million, the number of cases of disease, and by 2020, the vaccinations have helped prevent 960 million years of disease.

“Vaccines are generally regarded as one of the interventions that are most cost-effective public health “, concludes the researcher Sachiko Ozawa.