The introduction of a vaccine against childhood pneumonia has cut new cases of the disease in a Kenyan county by 27 per cent, a study says.
The introduction of a vaccine against childhood pneumonia has cut new cases of the disease in a Kenyan county by 27 per cent, a study says.
Pneumonia accounts for 18 per cent of all deaths of children under five worldwide each year, with children in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia succumbing to the disease the most, according to the World Health Organisation.
Kenya introduced a vaccine called PCV10 against pneumonia in January 2011, according to the study published in the March issue of the Lancet Global Health, which experts say offers some of the first evidence of its success in children.
“The study shows that there is considerable improvement in child health associated with the implementation of a PCV10 programme, providing important evidence for policymakers in Africa as they confront the challenge of sustaining immunisation programmes independently,” says Anthony Scott, corresponding author of the study and professor of vaccine epidemiology at the UK-based London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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