PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND

PRESS CONFERENCE BY UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND

New country data published today revealed inadequate progress on protecting children and women against preventable diseases despite the availability of low-cost vaccines, Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Briefing correspondents during the launch of the report Progress for Children -– A Report Card on Immunization, Ms. Veneman said that the keys to accelerating progress included the integration of approaches to effective interventions, and invigorated partnerships that brought together all sectors.  Such approaches were critical if the Millennium Development Goals were to be achieved.

“The children of the world are counting on all of us for their continued health, well-being and survival”, she said, noting that today, one in four infants around the world was still at risk from vaccine-preventable diseases.  In addition, 27 million children and 40 million pregnant women failed to get immunized every year.  West and Central Africa -– where only 52 per cent of children were immunized -– had the greatest rate of illness and death from vaccine-preventable diseases.

Another disturbing finding of the report was that immunization rates in some countries were heading in reverse, protecting fewer children from preventable disease, she said.  While immunization had prevented an estimated 2 million child deaths in 2003 alone, expanding such proven, life-saving tools to more children would have a direct bearing on efforts to achieve Millennium Goal 4 –- a two-thirds reduction in under-five child mortality by the year 2015.

Progress for Children -– A Report Card on Immunization is the third in a series of reports that highlight gains made towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals for children and show where work remains to be done.  The report ranks countries on their average annual rate of increase in immunization coverage since 1990 and focuses on the future rates of increase necessary to achieve full immunization of children under one year old at the 90 per cent rate level in every nation by 2010.  That target was established at the 2002 General Assembly Special Session on Children.  According to the report, 103 countries have already achieved that level, and another 16 are making steady progress.  However, in 74 countries, the programmes have not kept up or progress is too slow.

Also attending the press conference was Peter Salama, Chief of UNICEF’s Immunization Plus Section, who said the report highlighted the incredible potential of immunization to decrease under-five child deaths, and the global collective vulnerability to infectious diseases.  For example, 1.4 million children still dies every year from completely vaccine-preventable diseases.

Asked about reports that polio had returned to areas in West Africa where it had previously been eradicated, Mr. Salama said that owing to false rumours about the safety of the anti-polio vaccine, a state in Nigeria had stopped vaccinations for a year, causing the illness to spread across Africa and to such places as Indonesia.  Cultural resistance to vaccination was an example of the necessity to raise awareness about the safety of vaccines.

In response to a question about the cost of achieving the 90 per cent immunization goal, as compared to the global military budget, he said the current global budget for child immunization was about $1 billion, which would rise to about $6 billion by 2010 to reach most of the world’s children.  That figure was relatively small compared to the military budgets of most countries.

Asked why some countries tended to retreat from previously established vaccination coverage levels, he said they sometimes relaxed their efforts because they thought immunization was on a trajectory that would continue to do extremely well.  The last 20 or 30 per cent of a country’s immunization goal would always be the hardest to achieve.

Responding to a question about changes she had introduced or was contemplating since assuming the UNICEF directorship in May, Ms. Veneman said that while the Fund had not undertaken major changes, it had placed a renewed focus on the need to direct its efforts to achieving the Millennium targets, most of which were directly related to children.  Member States had only 10 years to achieve them.

She also highlighted a partnership initiative introduced during the recent World Summit on integrated approaches for maternal and child survival.  The UNICEF would be announcing at the end of next month a major initiative on children and HIV/AIDS.

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For information media • not an official record