Despite the fact that global immunisation programmes are now reaching more people than ever, about 1.5 million children still die every year from diseases that vaccination could have prevented.
Despite the fact that global immunisation programmes are now reaching more people than ever, about 1.5 million children still die every year from diseases that vaccination could have prevented. Vaccination is also less effective in low-income countries than in high-income countries, although it is not yet clear why.
Babies have smaller iron reserves
Findings from two clinical studies with children in Kenya now suggest that iron deficiency during infancy may reduce the protection that vaccinations provide. In their first study, the research group led by Michael Zimmermann from the Department of Health Sciences and Technology worked in collaboration with scientists from Kenya, the UK, the Netherlands and the US. Their aim was to determine the levels of body iron and antibodies against antigens from the administered vaccines in blood samples of 303 Kenyan children followed from birth to age 18 months.
“In Switzerland, babies are born with iron stores that are normally sufficient for their first six months of life,” says Zimmermann, Professor of Human Nutrition. “But in Kenya and other sub-Saharan countries, iron reserves in babies are much lower, especially in those born to anaemic mothers or with a low birth weight.” This is aggravated by infections and bloody diarrhoea, and their iron reserves are often exhausted after two to three months, he explains.
Read more at ETH Zurich
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