World Immunization Week
Every year, last week of April is marked as the World Immunization Week. The Week is celebrated to increase awareness of immunization. This year, the week is being marked under the theme
Theme: Vaccines work for All
Immunization
According to the World Health Organization, immunization can help protect from 25 different infectious disease-causing agents or diseases. The World Immunization is one of the eight official Global Public Campaigns organized by the World Health Organization.
Global Public Campaigns
The Global Public Campaigns of the WHO include World Health Day, World Tuberculosis Day, World Blood Donor Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Malaria Day, World AIDS Day, World Hepatitis Day and World Immunization Week.
First Immunization
The first vaccine developed to immunize against diseases was the small pox vaccine. It was developed by an English Physician Edward Jenner in 1796.
The vaccine programmes take a long time to come into effect. For instance, the Ebola Vaccine programme was launched in 2014, however, it proved to become effective only in 2016. It was approved for medical use in the United States only in 2016.
2020 Campaign
This year, during the World Immunization Week, the following are to be focused
- The values of vaccines are to be demonstrated to children
- The highlights to build on immunization progress is to be addressed.
- The importance of increasing investment towards vaccine programmes.
Related Posts
Month: Current Affairs - April, 2020