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Some
two billion people worldwide are affected by hepatitis B, 97 percent of them
in the developing world and this causes chronic liver diseases that kill
500,000 to 700,000 people every year, including cancer.
The
World Health Organization, WHO, recommends the routine immunisation of
children with the hepatitis B vaccine and over 110 countries have adopted a
policy of immunising all infants with the hepatitis B vaccine.
Coverage
rates for full immunisation with hepatitis B (three doses) in developing
countries has increased from 20 percent to 68 percent since the year 2000.
It is
estimated that three million deaths from chronic liver diseases such as liver
cancer will be prevented through immunization programmes so far undertaken.
A
vaccine that can prevent human papillomavirus (HPV), which
causes more than 99 percent of cervical cancers became available a few years
ago.
Almost
half a million women a year are diagnosed with cervical cancer and 270,000
women die each year from this disease.
Most of these women, 85 percent, live
in developing countries; a woman dies of cervical cancer every ten minutes in
Africa.
Although
cervical cancer can be treated if it is detected early, in developing
countries awareness is low and screening programmes have proven difficult to
carry out.
Better
screening is an important strategy but the new vaccine against HPV provides a
highly effective means of preventing cervical cancer.
The
two companies that manufacture the vaccine have committed to offering it in
the developing world at significantly reduced prices of below US$ 10.
In
developing countries the rollout of the hepatitis B vaccine has
demonstrated that vaccine prices inevitably decline along with increased
demand with the type of programmes supported by the GAVI Alliance so deaths
from cervical cancer may now be greatly reduced in the least developed
countries.
It is hoped that donor
governments - many of which have recently introduced HPV vaccines in their own
countries - will provide the funds to ensure HPV vaccines are available to
those who need them most, worldwide.
The
GAVI Alliance
is a Geneva-based public-private partnership aimed at improving health in the
worlds poorest countries.
The
Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World
Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry in both
industrialised and developing countries, research and technical agencies,
NGOs, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private
philanthropists.
GAVI support consists of providing life-saving vaccines and strengthening
health systems.
Since
2000, over 200 million children have been vaccinated and 3.4 million premature
deaths averted thanks to GAVI-funded programmes. For more information,
please visit: www.gavialliance.org.
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