African Heads Of State Endorse Universal Access To Immunisation For Africans

Heads of State from across Africa, yesterday made history by endorsing the Ministerial Declaration on Universal Access to Immunisation, to ensure that everyone in Africa receives the full benefits of immunisation.It will be recalled that the Ministerial Declaration on Universal Access to Immunization calls for countries to increase political and financial investments in their immunization programmes. It includes 10 commitments, including increasing vaccine-related funding, strengthening supply chains and delivery systems, and making universal access to vaccines a cornerstone of health and development efforts.While Africa has made impressive gains over the last 15 years toward increasing access to immunization, progress has stagnated, and the continent is falling behind on meeting global immunization targets.One in five children in Africa still does not receive basiclife-saving vaccines and, as a result, vaccine-preventable diseases continue to claim too many lives and measles alone accounts for pproximately 61,000 preventable deaths in the African region every year.Global health experts, while urging African leaders to ensure that they live up to their promises, applauded this gaint step taken by them.Chair of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance board, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, said, African leaders are showing outstanding leadership by endorsing this landmark commitment which will allow more African children to be reached with life-saving vaccines no matter where they live.
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