Today’s Solutions: September 15, 2024

Pneumonia is the single biggest killer of children under five worldwide, but a new agreement hopes to change this by making the vaccine for the disease much more affordable. 

A new agreement between UNICEF and the Serum Institute of India will drop the price of the lifesaving drug from $3.50 to $2 per dose. The Serum Institute of India is a biotech company that will provide 10 million doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) to countries supported by the Gavi Vaccine Alliance every year for the next 10 years, according to UNICEF.

Gavi was launched in 2000 to promote vaccine accessibility and has saved more than 13 million lives across 73 countries since its founding. Pneumonia kills over 800,000 children under 5 years old every year, so making the vaccine more affordable is a big step towards reducing its deadly impact. The vaccine will be especially beneficial in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, where the disease is most prevalent. 

Vaccines are an incredible resource for global health, yet, in 2018, 20 million children reportedly missed out on lifesaving vaccines. Coordination between international organizations to make them more readily available and affordable is a big solution for child wellness around the globe.

Solutions News Source Print this article
More of Today's Solutions

Is putting your kid on time-out a good parenting tactic?

When Amy and Steve Unruh decided to adopt a four-year-old child from the Philippines, they anticipated challenges. They understood it would take time, as ...

Read More

Study: Drinking the right amount of caffeine may lower diabetes risks

While too much caffeine from coffee may cause unpleasant side effects such as anxiety or insomnia, that doesn’t mean you should cut your caffeine ...

Read More

Words matter: US finally drops racist slur from the names of federal sites

A racist and misogynist slur used to refer to Native American women will be removed from the names of hundreds of islands, lakes, rivers, mountains, ...

Read More

Study shows children of gay dads thrive

Researchers dug into the lives of families with gay fathers in a landmark study published in the journal Family Process, challenging prevalent preconceptions and ...

Read More