Vaccine Campaign Will Target Deadly Childhood Diarrhea
Every year, more than one million children under the age of five die as a result of diarrhoea. It is the second-biggest killer in this age group, after pneumonia, and 40% of diarrhoea deaths are caused by rotavirus.That horrific toll could soon fall, thanks to the first major roll-out of rotavirus vaccines in Africa, where half of rotavirus deaths occur. The programme was unveiled this week by the GAVI Alliance -- formerly the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation -- based in Geneva, Switzerland. The group hopes to immunize 50 million children against rotavirus in 40 of the world's poorest countries by 2015. Although rotavirus gastroenteritis is common worldwide, it kills very few children in richer countries, where hospitalization and intravenous rehydration are readily available, and where vaccination is becoming more common. [More]