This is a scene at a hospital in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, where children under the age of five and their mothers stand in line waiting to be vaccinated against polio.
Polio is another name for acute gray meningitis, a form of childhood paralysis, and is particularly susceptible to children under the age of 5. In 1988, an estimated350,000 peopleIn the early 1990s, the number of polio cases was as high as 1.5 million. However, since the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative at the World Health Assembly and the subsequent progress in vaccination, the number of cases has increased to over99%.They have decreased by more than
Vaccines and medicines for a number of diseases that are a threat to people, not just polio, are being developed around the world.
Learn more about gaps in pharmaceuticals → "The Global Pharmaceutical Gap: Profit or Human Life?"
Learn more about antibiotics → "Is the era of antibiotics not working just around the corner?"
Learn more about innovation in Africa → "From Africa: Innovations in Health and Sanitation"
(Photo:hdptcar / Flickr [CC BY 2.0])