African leaders including health ministers, political leaders and technical experts have expressed their commitment towards reducing child mortality, morbidity and disability across the continent by ensuring improved access to vaccines.; they also pledged they will keep immunisation at the forefront of efforts to reduce child killer-diseases.
The decisions were taken at the recently held maiden Ministerial Conference on Immunisation in Africa, which was held in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa.
A statement by the Global Health Strategies, a sub-unit in the World Health Organisation, indicated the continental health officials are committed to overall improvement healthcare delivery in Africa.
It read: “The WHO report also shows that routine immunisation coverage has increased considerably across Africa since 2000; measles deaths declined by 86 per cent between 2000 and 2014,” part of the statement indicated.
“The introduction of new vaccines has been a major success. However, three critical diseases including measles, rubella and neo-natal tetanus remain endemic.
“Many countries also have fragile health systems that leave immunisation programmes vulnerable to shocks.”
