Gender Equity and Immunization
March is Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day. Gender equity and support for women and girls has a strong relationship with child health and access to immunization. Learn more about the latest research on the ways that immunization influences gender equity.
Immunization Economics: A Major Return on Investment
New economic analyses have shown that immunization supports more than health – vaccination can also have a significant return on investment and can help support national economies.
All Featured Issues
-
Cancer and Immunization: More than meets the eye
Evidence from several disciplines indicates that immunization has a broader role to play in lessening the impact of cancer than one might expect. While it may be obvious that the widespread and growing use of vaccines against Hepatitis B and human papilloma virus (HPV) is directly responsible for preventing a significant number of related cancers, immunization against a host of other diseases may indirectly help to prevent additional cancers while helping to protect the health of immune-compromised cancer patients considerably. Read on for a brief explanation of how vaccines can prevent cancer, protect cancer patients and more.
-
Critical but complex: Vaccination during conflict and forced migration
Conflict and forced migration – resulting in disruption of communities and health systems – amplify the risk factors for infectious disease and increase the urgency of preventive measures such as immunization. While disease outbreaks of measles, cholera, meningitis and even polio in refugee camps may be the most widely covered issues related to immunization in conflict-affected areas and populations, this VoICE Featured Issue explores some of the less-visible, but equally critical aspects. Immunizations play an important role in these settings, considering the threat of malnutrition and antimicrobial resistance, economic pressures, and the urgent need for responsive policies.
-
Equity and Immunization: Shrinking the Gaps
Although more children than at any point in history are now protected against vaccine-preventable diseases, millions of zero-dose children are still missing out on the life-saving benefits of immunization entirely. These children often live in the world’s most marginalized communities where inequities are clustered and compounded by poverty, geography, gender, and conflict. In order to keep making progress against preventable deaths and illness, leaders will need to integrate equity across global, national, and sub-national immunization strategies.
-
Gender Equity and Vaccines: an equal shot at health
Last month at the G7 meeting in Canada, global leaders met to consider gender equality, one of the 5 key themes Canada will advance during their tenure. Partners, experts and representatives in the immunization world echoed this emphasis on gender at the Global Immunization Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda just a few days ago. The issues of gender and gender equity within immunization are complex, and designing research to study equity gaps can be difficult. To understand what we do know about immunization and gender, women’s empowerment and gender equity, the VoICE team this month features an overview of these issues.
-
Integration: Leveraging Immunization for Health System Strengthening
The battle to eliminate polio is one example of how immunization integration can be leveraged to strengthen health systems and build vaccine acceptance. Integration is one of the three pillars of the Endgame Strategy and is highlighted as a strategic priority in the Immunization Agenda 2030 (IA2030) and in Gavi’s 5.0 strategy.
-
NEW RESEARCH CLIFF NOTES: Equity and Poverty Reduction Impact of Vaccines
In February 2018, Angela Chang and colleagues released a widely publicized study in Health Affairs estimating the death and economic impoverishment (due to medical expenses) that could be averted in 41 low-income nations through the use of 10 vaccine antigens from 2016-2030. Here, the VoICE team brings you “New Research Cliff Notes”, where we provide a high-level explanation of this new study, important considerations, notes on interpretation and drivers of the study’s estimates.
-
Pneumonia vaccines – Secret weapons in the war on poverty
Childhood pneumonia is arguably the most unfair affliction in the world. Not only is pneumonia the leading infectious cause of death in children less than 5 years of age – taking the lives of more than 100 children each hour, nearly a million per year – but it disproportionately affects those living in the poorest households and in the poorest countries around the world. Hib, pneumococcal, measles and pertussis vaccines are turning the tide in the battle against childhood pneumonia, and are helping to erase the complex inequity into which children living in poverty are born. Read on to find out why and what role vaccines are playing in the war on poverty.
-
Possibilities: The Far-Reaching Benefits of Immunization
The story of immunization is often headlined with the remarkable health benefits—millions of lives saved, and illnesses and hospitalizations prevented. But the true impact of vaccination is even more far-reaching, touching many areas of people’s lives from supporting early childhood growth and development to improving educational outcomes and productivity, promoting economic stability, and helping to address equity gaps: It’s seemingly impossible to undersell the importance of vaccination. This World Immunization Week, the VoICE editors highlight some of the broader benefits of immunization—not only helping to prevent illness and save lives, but also promoting healthy development, productivity, economic stability, and equity for all.
-
Special edition: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in the global fight against child pneumonia
Pneumonia is responsible for more than 800,000 under-5 deaths each year—claiming a child’s life every 39 seconds. Vaccines against pneumococcus, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), pertussis, measles, and influenza are important to help protect children from disease and prevent the lasting health, equity, and socioeconomic effects of pneumonia. This week, country leaders, scientific experts, program and policy officials, and advocates from around the world will meet in Barcelona to elevate pneumonia on national and global health agendas and raise the call for action against this common, serious, preventable cause of child illness and death.
-
The Unyielding Impact of Childhood Diarrhea
Despite tremendous global progress, diarrhea remains the second leading infectious cause of under-5 deaths, taking a child’s life almost every minute. Although diarrhea can seem like a common, simple childhood ailment in many places, a single episode of diarrhea can be serious, even deadly, and have severe economic implications for families and communities. Advocates play a critical role in ensuring evidence-based diarrhea prevention and control programs and policies are a top priority globally and in the countries where this disease is most prolific.