Nearly a quarter of a million children are born with sickle cell disease in Africa each year. Sickle cell disease was found to increase the risk of Hib infections by 13-fold and pneumococcal infections by 36 fold. This means that children with sickle cell disease stand to benefit enormously from PCV and Hib immunization.
Haemophilus lnfluenzae type b (Hib)
Higher vaccine coverage for some vaccines was associated with a lower risk of developing a specific type of leukemia
A study including thousands of children from the U.S. state of Texas found that children born in counties with high coverage of HepB, Polio, and Hib vaccines were 33%, 37%, and 42% less likely to develop a specific type of leukemia than children born in counties with lower coverage of each vaccine.
Children with mothers who have completed some secondary schooling are more likely to be vaccinated
A study conducted in Eastern Uganda found that Ugandan children whose mothers had some secondary schooling were 50% more likely to have received scheduled vaccinations by 6 months of age than children whose mothers had attended school only through primary level. This effect became more pronounced with delivery of the later doses of each vaccine (OPV2, 3 & DPT-HB-Hib 2,3).
Pneumonia vaccination among children in refugee camps is cost-effective
In a study modeling the cost-effectiveness of vaccination campaigns in Somalia – the country with the second largest number of refugees in 2012 – the use of Hib vaccine, PCV10, or both Hib and PCV10 were all found to be cost effective means to prevent excess morbidity and mortality from pneumonia in young Somali children. Such a vaccination campaign could conservatively reduce pneumonia cases and deaths by nearly 20%.
Vaccines are a cost-effective means to reduce the high burden of pneumonia and diarrhea suffered by malnourished children living in refugee camps
Children living in the Yida refugee camp in South Sudan in 2013 were found to have an elevated rate of pneumonia infections likely due to malnutrition, overcrowding, and inadequate shelter. Using these data, the CDC estimated that the use of Hib and pneumococcal vaccines in children under 2 years of age in the camp would be cost-effective under all dosing scenarios evaluated. Medecines Sans Frontiers (MSF) provided medical services to this refugee camp and found delivery of these vaccines to be feasible and effective in this setting.