A huge funding gap is threatening to hamper progress of vaccination campaigns in poor countries, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a report out this week.
Expanding the campaigns could help save up to 4 million lives but a funding gap of some USD4 billion stands in the way of implementing further action, the ICRC said according to Agence France-Presse.
ICRC explained that introducing pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines in some of the world’s poorest countries could save 840,000 and 200,000 lives, respectively, per year. Expanding routine provision of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine could save at least 4 million lives, it said.
The proposed expansion of the campaign could help boost progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, the ICRC report explains.
World leaders will gather in New York Sept. 20-22 for the U.N. High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals.
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