Vaccines: The Next 10 Years

Apr 7th, 2010 12:17 PM UTC
By David Lane

ONE campaigns for effective solutions to ending poverty. And while the path out of poverty is complex and requires a multi-pronged approach, some simple tools do exist. Enter vaccines-they’re relatively simple and cost-effective, and we can take advantage of their many benefits right now. In fact, they are often called “the best buy in public health,” and ONE will be advocating for vaccines as a critical part of our push for improved maternal and child health.

I don’t want to oversimplify this; vaccines are not a cure-all, and they don’t guarantee good health. But they do help make sure that millions of children and adults don’t die from preventable diseases. Take the vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease-the two biggest disease killers of children under five. Distribution of these two vaccines could save the lives of 7.6 million children under the age of five during the next 10 years.

Recently, Bill and Melinda Gates called for a Decade of Vaccines to help research, develop and deliver vaccines to the world’s poor. During the next month, the ONE blog will feature guest posts that we hope will build on this conversation. Many of our partners will share what they think are the necessary steps to make the next ten years of vaccines as successful as possible. They’ll also share what role their organization will play in making it a reality. And we hope you’ll comment on their posts and share your thoughts, too.

This blog series is just the first step in a larger campaign to educate ONE’s members, the public, and key decision makers about the critical benefits of vaccines. I hope you enjoy, learn from and comment on this series over the coming weeks. I know you’ll become as excited about this opportunity as I am.

TAGS: Vaccines, Vaccines 10 Years