PHA-Exchange> UNICEF CALLS FOR 'COALITION OF POWERFUL' TO PROVIDE WORLDWIDE VACCINE ACCESS

[Claudio]

From: "Vern Weitzel" <vern.weitzel at undp.org>

> UNICEF CALLS FOR 'COALITION OF POWERFUL' TO PROVIDE WORLDWIDE VACCINE
ACCESS
> New York, Oct 11 2004  2:00PM
> With some 2 million children dying annually from vaccine-preventable
diseases, United Nations
> Children's Fund (UNICEF) chief Carol Bellamy today called on the world's
leaders to form a
> "coalition of the powerful," to provide effective immunization for the
children who presently have
> no access to it.
>
> "Industry, governments and community leaders have a moral obligation and a
vested interest in
> closing the gap between the reached and unreached," she
> <"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_23533.htm">said in a keynote address
to the World Vaccine
> Congress in Lyons, France. "We've made progress before, but much more
needs to be done to end
> stubborn inequities that cost millions of children's lives."
>
> Ms Bellamy pointed to the polio eradication effort as an example of the
global community's capacity
> to reach children in the most remote places as well as those who are
socially marginalized. "The
> lesson here is: If we can come this close to eradicating polio, there is
no excuse for not ridding
> the world of killers like measles, too."
>
> The 70 per cent of children reached worldwide in 1990 with the "basic six"
vaccines against whooping
> cough, measles, diphtheria, polio, tuberculosis and tetanus had not
changed, she said.
>
> The three-pronged approach of a Global Vision and Strategy for
Immunization jointly developed by
> <"http://www.unicef.org/immunization/index.html">UNICEF and the UN World
Health Organization
> (<"http://www.who.int/en/">WHO) aims to reach more children with
lower-cost, effective vaccines, to
> link routine immunization to other health interventions and to introduce
advanced vaccines at
> affordable prices. Those could include inoculations against rotavirus,
human papilloma virus,
> pneumococcal infection, dengue fever and even malaria, she said.
>
> A global survey of child mortality UNICEF made public last week showed
that 98 countries are lagging
> behind in their efforts to reach the globally agreed Millennium
Development Goal of a two-thirds
> reduction in child mortality by 2015, compared to 1990, especially in
countries plagued by conflict
> or HIV/AIDS where immunization rates are generally low.
>
> "It's clear that we have to learn some new tricks to reach the goals the
world has set for itself,"
> Ms. Bellamy said. "The strongest possible partnership between the private
and public sectors is a
> crucial first step, both in ensuring a steady, affordable supply of
vaccines and in making sure it
> reaches the children who are hardest to reach.  It's a double challenge."