One of the actions that would contribute to saving lives of children in the world is an adequate vaccination system In the first year of life, something that is not available to all people, especially in developing countries. It is estimated that immunizations prevent about three million child deaths each year.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the Program for Integrated Care for Prevalent Diseases of Children (IMCI), which focuses on the main ailments that affect infant mortality in the world and includes three main components:
- Improvements in skills related to case management and training of health personnel through locally adapted AIEPI guidelines and activities that promote their use.
- Improvements in the health system aimed at increasing effectiveness in the management of childhood diseases.
- Improvements in family and community practices.
In the publication of these organizations "Family and community practices that promote the survival, growth and development of the child" (2005) is about improvements in family and community practices.
More specifically, it offers evidence for those basic practices identified by UNICEF and WHO for being of vital importance to provide good care for the child at home and to prevent or treat the conditions included in IMCI.
Improve vaccination in the world
About vaccination, we offer the following key points as a summary:
Despite the almost global coverage of immunization (80%), it is not yet universal. The number of deaths caused by preventable diseases through vaccines is as high as the number of deaths prevented by the same route. A different level of effort is required to reach that last 20% of unimmunized children.
Based on the results of efficacy studies, it has been estimated that with an additional 10% coverage increase, measles deaths would be reduced by 11%, diarrhea by 4%, and by acute acute respiratory infections by 2 %.
It is important to improve the safety of immunizations; Currently, more than half of the vaccines are not safe. In a 1998 study of 19 developing countries it was found that, in 14 of them, at least 50% of the injections were not safe. Technologies such as disposable syringes, single dose syringes and monitoring of vaccine bottles should help reduce procedural problems
The private sector provides up to 40% of immunizations, but its potential role in routine service delivery has not been fully explored.
National immunization days have been effective in the control and elimination of polio, and are being planned for measles. However, improving routine service delivery is important to ensure that high coverage is maintained.
Decreasing the loss of immunization opportunities during visits to the health center could potentially reduce mortality; It is estimated that an opportunity has been lost for 41% of children (average) in developing countries.
Social mobilization can increase coverage and is essential for its expansion. It is estimated that almost three million children in Africa are not immunized against measles, although they probably have access to the vaccine. No studies were found that explore the impact of social mobilization on mortality or morbidity.
The cost of vaccines and providing accessible and viable delivery systems remains the main limitation in many developing countries.
But, if there is to boost vaccination to save lives in the world, as the scientific evidence indicates, it is proposed to promote both the consumption of immunizations and the appropriate time for the application of vaccines and the application of the scheme or complete cycle of immunizations.
