NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, April 27, 2017

Following the ongoing Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) epidemic in Nigeria and as part of activities to mark the World Immunisation Week (WIW), April 24 to 30, Pfizer pharmaceuticals and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have called for acceleration of global access to vaccines in developing countries.

Also, working with partners to address the ongoing epidemic of CSM in the country, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) will tomorrow, Tuesday April 25, in Abuja, host a one-day media orientation on meningitis outbreak and response with journalists/media groups to support the awareness and mobilization efforts of government.

The WHO and Pfizer, in separate statements yesterday, said immunization matters now more than ever because expanding access to immunization is crucial to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and routine immunization is a building block of strong primary health care and universal health coverage—it provides a point of contact for health care at the beginning of life and offers every child the chance at a healthy life from the start.

They said immunization prevents illness, disability and death from vaccine-preventable diseases including cervical cancer, diphtheria, hepatitis B, measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), pneumonia, polio, rotavirus diarrhoea, rubella and tetanus.

WHO and Pfizer said that vaccines have significantly reduced the threat of diseases that were once widespread and sometimes fatal and today, more people benefit from safe and efficacious vaccines than ever before – and the list of diseases that vaccines can help prevent continues to grow.