Pneumonia: a deadly disease that can be prevented by vaccines

Every 45 seconds a boy or girl dies of pneumonia. 2,000 children – almost 700,000 deaths a year – that could be saved by vaccination. According to the World Health Organization, pneumonia is the leading cause of childhood mortality in low- and middle-income countries. A third of these preventable deaths occur in the first month of life.

There are several risk factors as a result of which pneumonia affects millions of people worldwide each year: air pollution, lack of access to water for hand hygiene, low temperature, childhood malnutrition, smoking or being exposed to tobacco smoke. Despite being a preventable and treatable disease, it remains a major threat due to the lack of access to vaccines, low-cost antibiotics, pulse oximeters and oxygen supplies in the most vulnerable countries.

For more than 15 years, the “la Caixa” Foundation has been working to guarantee you access to vaccines, the most effective way to prevent pneumonia. During this time, they have contributed to the vaccination of more than 10 million children together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which multiplies grants for vaccination by four through the Matching Fund. This union, born in 2008, made the “la Caixa” Foundation the first private partner of Gavi, creating an Alliance for Childhood Immunization that allows companies to join the fight in face infant mortality as part of their corporate social responsibility. for Global Health – ISGlobal is also a strategic partner of the Industry Alliance for Childhood Immunization, adding to its long history in the field of maternal and child health. He is currently a member of the Gavi Board representing Civil Society Organisations.

The aim is to protect the lives of the poorest children in the world, and it has a special focus on protection against pneumonia by funding the pneumococcal vaccine. On November 12, World Pneumonia Day was celebrated, which aims to raise public awareness of the importance of preventing and treating this disease, a serious respiratory disease that affects the lungs and is the main cause child mortality worldwide.

Gavi: a friend to save a life

“la Caixa” Foundation and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Their common goal is to protect the lives of the world’s poorest children, in a global effort that allows the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of childhood pneumonia to end the deaths of newborns and children under five years of age. could be avoided by 2030.

Last year 2023, more than four million funds were directed, which became more than eight thanks to the contribution of the Bill and the Melinda Gates Foundation. These funds were fully invested in the purchase of more than 3.18 million doses of the pneumococcal vaccine for Mozambique, and they have made it possible to finance – again and from 2018 – – the total cost of the programs pneumonia vaccine in Mozambique.

This investment in disease prevention has allowed the under-5 mortality rate to drop to a staggering 51% since 2000, largely due to vaccinations. “Vaccines are a shield of protection that people carry throughout their lives,” explained Violaine Mitchell, Director of Immunization at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Without these shields, families and communities suffer devastating emotional and economic consequences, and people in low-income countries are the most affected.

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, was born within the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to make society understand that vaccines are for everyone, regardless of where they live, dealing with symbolic inequality. In these 24 years of investment, more than 1.1 billion children have been vaccinated, which means that more than 18.8 million premature deaths will be avoided. The goal is now to reach another billion children between 2026 and 2030, while countries grapple with the growing risks of climate change, vulnerability and economic instability.

To do this, the effort will focus on asking donors to provide $9 billion worth of new funding. This will be accompanied by a set of innovative financial instruments that will maximize the impact of donor funding. On the other hand, countries implementing Gavi programs are required to contribute the maximum amount – more than 40% – to their own routine vaccination costs during these four years of the strategy, with the aim to protect and save more than 500 million boys and girls. more than eight million lives.

Thanks to the contribution of the “la Caixa” Foundation to the vaccination program, more than 46.7 million euros have been raised since 2008, obtained with all the funds of the Foundation as well as the equal assets from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.