UNICEF Applauds China's Achievement in Child Immunization

On the eve of World Immunization Week (April 24-30), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) applauded the Government of China's achievement in protecting millions of children from vaccine-preventable diseases, and called for sustained efforts to make sure every child is vaccinated to give them a fair chance for a healthy future.

Globally, an estimated one in five infants currently misses out on completing their basic vaccines that could save their lives, shield them from illness and protect them from disability. This year's theme for World Immunization Week "Closing the Gap" makes a direct appeal to the global health community to remain focused on reaching the poorest and most marginalized child and reiterates that immunization remains a critical unfinished global child health agenda.

In China, the National Day for Child Immunization, which fell on April 25, reinforces this global agenda under the slogan 'Children's Rights and Society's Responsibility'.

Since its introduction in 1978, the country's Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) has contributed to the country's plummeting of mortality and morbidity caused by preventable diseases, including polio, measles, tetanus, pertussis, diphtheria, hepatitis B, meningitis, and Japanese encephalitis.

These accomplishments contributed to the country's success in reaching the Millennium Development Goal on reducing under five mortality far ahead of schedule to 12 deaths per 1,000 births. In addition, through strong vaccination efforts, China was declared polio free in 2000 and successfully prevented an outbreak of imported polio in 2011. The country has also dramatically reduced the prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection to less than 1 percent among children under five years of age – exceeding the regional goal of 2 percent.

"Immunization is one of the most successful and cost-effective public health interventions a country can make to reduce mortality and protect its citizens.  China's success story in saving millions of children's lives and shielding them from illness and disability through a strong immunization program has been a testimony to this investmentand an inspiration for many countries around the world," said Tim Sutton, UNICEF China's Officer-in-Charge.

In the 1980s, when the Government of China sought to create a national immunization program, UNICEF and WHO worked to support cold chain management systems and set up the systems for vaccines to reach children across the country. Since then, it has worked to maintain these services and tailor vaccine programs to access the hardest-to-reach communities.

"While we celebrate the success in China's expanded immunization program we must continue to work to reach every child with life-saving vaccines, especially amongst migrant communities and those living in remote areas," said Sutton. "To protect all children, no matter where they live, we need to make sure we reach every child.  As we have seen in many countries, failures to vaccinate pockets of children can quickly erode national public health gains. They can lead to outbreaks of contagious yet preventable diseases, like measles, polio and whooping cough that can become a threat to children everywhere."

In China, rapid urbanization, along with the massive movement of populations, has added new challenges to ensuring that vaccination coverage remains universally high.  In some urban areas, difficulty in tracking immunization records, along with lack of documentation, have meant that some migrant children are missing out on critical vaccines. Regional disparities, especially in reaching children in remote and poorer parts of the country, continue to pose challenges.

China's State Food and Drug Administration, who oversees the regulation of vaccine production in the country, gained WHO's global approval for their vaccine regulatory standards in 2011, and passed a prequalification reassessment in 2014.  Despite meeting global safety standards, many parents are not aware of the importance of vaccination or lack confidence on the effectiveness of vaccines to prevent diseases contributing to lower coverage in some areas.

Globally, recent outbreaks of measles – a highly contagious virus – in many countries, affect over 20 million people each year, illustrates that while a safe and effective vaccine has existed for over 50 years, low coverage is a global threat to public health.

As part of this year's global theme, the focus remains on dispelling myths linked to these concerns and convincing parents and caregivers that vaccination remains one of the best investments they can make in their child's survival and well-being.

From 2011-2020, globally the costs to public health systems for providing childhood vaccines will require an investment of US$25.4 billion.[2]Yet investments in immunization and health systems make economic sense. For example, if every child in the world's poorest countries had access to existing vaccines, more than 6 million lives could be saved and over US$150 billion in treatment costs and productivity losses could be avoided.

UNICEF globally is calling on all Governments to make sure predictable and sustainable funding for immunization is available and made a critical part of any country's universal health coverage.

In China, the Government has remained committed to building a strong immunization program and also contributing globally to this important public health priority. This year's financial commitment of U.S. $5 million by the Government of China to the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization (GAVI), who provides critical financing to least developing country, was a welcome contribution to provide new vaccines in the poorest parts of the world.

(Source: unicef.cn)