WHO steps up immunization efforts to protect Western Pacific children from disease

[News_Editor]

WHO steps up immunization efforts to protect Western Pacific children from disease

2011-04-25 16:12:05 GMT+7 (ICT)

MANILA (BNO NEWS) -- The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said it is stepping up its efforts to ensure that more people in the Western Pacific Region, especially children, are protected from disease by immunization.

While there has been significant progress in improving immunization rates in the Western Pacific, the WHO said, much remains to be done. Millions of children in the Region are still not adequately immunized, which puts their lives at risk from vaccine-preventable diseases.

All of the WHO Member States in the Western Pacific Region are also signatories to the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which, among other targets, seeks to reduce by two thirds the under-5 mortality rate in children, and the maternal mortality ratio by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015.

Achieving and maintaining high immunization coverage against vaccine-preventable diseases is an important strategy for achieving these MDGs, the WHO said. And while challenges remain, progress is being made in the Region.

For example, the Region has remained virtually polio-free despite the continued threat from wild poliovirus importation and the number of measles cases has been reduced by 96 percent between 1974 and 2010, with 25 countries and areas believed to have either eliminated or nearly eliminated measles ahead of the 2012 goal.

The rates of chronic hepatitis B infection among 5-year-old children in 26 countries and areas of the Western Pacific Region has also declined to less than 2 percent.

But despite these gains, the WHO said, more needs to be done to reach every child as millions of dollars are being spent each year across the Region on the care of children whose illnesses could have been prevented.

"Many of our successes are at risk of being lost if we do not continue to invest in effective immunization programs," said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. "Continued commitment is vital if our successes are to be sustained and our efforts expanded so that no one is left unprotected."

The WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific made the appeal during the launch of its first Regional Vaccination Week, which will now become an annual regional initiative. The event seeks to promote vaccination activities, including educating parents and caregivers, about the importance of vaccination in protecting children and all people from birth onwards.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-25