Viewpoint: immunization against poverty.

Abstract

According to several demographic analyses there is a correlation between health and poverty. Data have shown that diseases and their underlying causes affect family economy in a number of ways: reduced productivity impediment of education or retained high dependency ratios. Hence it is concluded that the right investment in health is at least as important as education. One effect of this poverty reduction perspective is prioritizing and focusing on a limited set of predominantly infectious diseases. An advantage of investing in excess for poor people is that investments become self-targeting and could possibly become free or almost free. However impact of health reforms on immunization in other countries appears to be mixed. The use of quantitative randomized trials has resulted in better coverage compared to health center-driven strategies. Among the suggestions of this paper to achieve the objectives of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization include enhancing global funding for children vaccines strengthening of immunization infrastructure and coverage making of sustainable vaccine procurement securing research and development for vaccines for the poor and vaccine research discovery.