If you’ve been reading the blog this week, you know we’re focusing on immunization and vaccines. From our coverage of World Malaria Day this week to our posts on the urgency of eradicating polio once and for all, there is no better time to talk about these issues!
It’s one reason why we’ve created the infographic below—to spread the word.
Vaccines are one of the best long-term investments to give children a healthy start to life. Think about this: approximately 1.5 million children will die from vaccine-preventable diseases this year, and thousands more will be paralyzed or physically disabled. To me, and I’m sure to you as well, that is simply unacceptable.
For just a few dollars per child, vaccines prevent disease for a lifetime. Investing in vaccines can save more than six million lives in the next decade. If you’d like an easy way to visualize this, we’re one step ahead of you! The infographic below, produced in collaboration with GOOD Magazine, offers you a great way to put the numbers in context:
We know that vaccines work. Vaccines were responsible for the eradication of the only disease in history—smallpox—and taken us to the threshold of ending polio. We also know that when vaccine programs are in place, the overall health of children and families is boosted by providing them with other important health services as well.
This is no small matter. The lives and health of children throughout the world are at stake. We owe it to them to make sure they have access to vaccines so they can live without fear of these diseases.
What can you do? Read our posts and get up to speed on how critical vaccines are to saving children’s lives around the world. Pass on our infographic to everyone you know. And visit the links below to see more about what our amazing partners are doing in this effort to save children’s lives.