WHO Calls For Greater Vaccination

April 15, 2005

Africa needs more investment in research and manpower to boost vaccination rates that are less than half the global average, the director-general of the World Health Organization, Jong-Wook Lee, said on Wednesday.He said:

Africa's vaccination coverage stood at around 30 percent, compared with a world coverage of more than 70 percent. The vaccines being used are also old. New investment is needed in research and development, but this is not really being done to a significant extent. But money is not the only problem. If all the money was available to raise the level of immunization, the system is not there. Political commitment is very important.

Owen's comment: The estimate of vaccination rates being as low as 30 percent is new to me. I had previously seen an average of 55 percent for sub-Saharan Africa, though Nigeria - where a quarter of young Africans live - has a much lower rate. Does anyone have any authoritative statistics for this?

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