04 Mar Lancet Infectious Diseases Examines How Resource Gaps Create Barriers To Reduce Child Mortality
U.S. Global Health Policy
The Lancet Infectious Diseases’ Newsdesk examines how resource gaps in immunizations, health workers and financing are creating barriers to efforts to achieve the U.N. Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015, as highlighted in a recent Save the Children report. The article describes the role GAVI Alliance has played in increasing the number of children receiving vaccines worldwide and notes the $3.7 billion gap the group hopes to fill to expand its immunization campaign over the next four years.
“Receipt of the money would allow for an additional 230 million children to be immunised with pentavalent vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae b, and hepatitis B, 90 million with the new pneumococcal vaccines, and 53 million with the rotavirus vaccines,” according to the publication. The article describes how GAVI hopes to engage donors and the private sector at a pledging conference scheduled for June.