Battling children’s diseases

OPINION:

This week in Athens, pediatricians from around the world have come together at the International Pediatric Association meeting to discuss the best ways to reduce the staggering number of infant deaths in poor countries. It is heartbreaking that millions of children die every year of diseases that are entirely curable and preventable.

Diseases that hardly occur in rich countries take a terrible toll in the developing world, robbing nations of children who later could contribute to economies, care for the infirm and elderly, and assume vital leadership positions.

Two of the most devastating and under-recognized diseases facing our children are pneumonia and meningitis. Pneumonia kills 2 million children a year and causes more infant deaths than AIDS and malaria combined. Worldwide, more than 1 million people suffer from bacterial meningitis each year. Among children in developing countries, meningitis kills 20 percent of those infected, while up to 35 percent may go on to develop lifelong disabilities such as mental retardation or hearing loss.

These statistics are mind boggling, but the real tragedy is that hundreds of thousands of pneumonia and meningitis cases can be prevented by current medicines and vaccines. Many of these technologies are already available to children in poor countries. But more governments must now commit to using these existing tools that are proven to be effective.

Pneumonia and meningitis are two diseases where vaccines can have a large impact. Life-threatening pneumonia and meningitis are caused mainly by two types of bacteria: Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Streptococcus pneumoniae, (pneumococcus). Effective vaccines exist for both, and international organizations are making them available to developing countries at affordable prices.

For instance, GAVI, an international public private partnership, has made a vaccine that protects against Hib and other diseases available to 72 poor countries for only a small percentage of the ordinary price. GAVI also helps governments purchase vaccines against other major child killers, including pneumococcus and rotavirus.

Money is not the main roadblock to making vaccines more widely available. What is needed now is for African governments to take advantage of these opportunities.

The case for universal access to the Hib vaccine is clear. It has been almost 18 years since the first routine infant immunization program against Hib was implemented; since then Hib pneumonia and meningitis have been virtually eliminated in the United States and most other developed countries. The problem is that today 74 percent of the world’s children still do not have access to this lifesaving vaccine. We should finish providing universal Hib vaccination to all children around the world. We could then save even more lives with vaccines for major killer diseases like pneumococcus and other diseases.

In 2000, every member of the United Nations pledged to halve child deaths by 2015. Yet we are not on track to meet this goal and cannot meet it unless we address childhood pneumonia and meningitis. To achieve this, we must make vaccines for deadly diseases available to all children who need them.

Governments and donors can no longer drag their feet in implementing policies to get children medicines and vaccines. We pediatricians meet this week to discuss our collective passion: the health and well being of children. By working together to stop pneumonia and meningitis through existing, cost-effective health technologies, we hope to make our passion a reality.

Adenike Grange, M.D., is Nigeria’s health minister and president of the International Pediatric Association.