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.

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.

Undernutrition and infectious diseases are tightly linked in a self-reinforcing cycle. Childhood episodes of diarrhea, pneumonia and measles are exacerbated by undernutrition, which significantly contributes to the death toll from these infections. In this feature, the VoICE team explains the cycle of malnutrition and infectious disease, and brings you evidence of the ways in which vaccines interrupt this cycle and help to protect the overall health, growth and physical development of vulnerable children.

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.

Leveraging the theme of World Immunization Week (April 24-30), Protected Together #Vaccineswork, the VoICE team has developed social media content pairing evidence from the compendium with the priority messaging areas of WIW2018 advocacy partners. We invite you to download our WIW2018 social media toolkit.

IVAC WIW2018 Social Media Toolkit

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.