Category Archives: vaccines

Tell Members of the G8 to Prioritize Disease Prevention!

g8, NTDs, vaccines

For the past week, the Sabin Vaccine Institute and the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases have been working with a group of organizations to raise awareness of specific issues – such as global health, nutrition, the environment and corruption – in advance of the G8.

Sabin Executive Vice President, Dr. Ciro de Quadros and Dr. Neeraj Mistry, Managing Director of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases, both contributed articles to the Huffington Post as a part of this effort, urging G8 member countries to prioritize prevention of diseases impacting those living in poverty around the world.

You can read the articles by clicking the links below.

Four Preventable Diseases G8 Leaders Should Keep in Mind by Dr. Ciro de Quadros

Elephantiasis, Snail Fever, Roundworm, More: Eliminating 7 Neglected Diseases that Affect World’s Poorest by 2020 by Dr. Neeraj Mistry

We hope you’ll continue to help us spread the word and work to encourage members of the G8 to focus on preventing diseases of poverty by sharing these articles via email, social media and word of mouth.

Even better, you can now record your own video message to G8 leaders via this link on the Huffington Post.  So get out your webcam and share 10 seconds of your time with our world leaders!

A short history of leishmania vaccines

leishmaniasis, vaccines

By: Charles Ebikeme

In February of this year we saw the launch of the first human trial for a new vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (leishmaniasis is one of the neglected tropical diseases, and it has been blogged about it in the past here on End the Neglect).

Photo credit: CDC

The new trial was launched by the InfectiousDiseaseResearchInstitute (IDRI) in Seattle, Washington with the plan to hold a further Phase 1 trial in India. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is funding the Phase 1 clinical trials, as part of the recently announced worldwide partnership with the WHO and 13 pharmaceutical companies to control or eliminate 10 neglected tropical diseases.

This new vaccine development can be added to a fast-expanding list of so-called “anti–poverty” vaccines; such as the famed RTS,S malariavaccine that last year proved to be effective (albeit not to levels some would deem completely effective), and vaccines in development for rabies, hookworm, schistosomiasis and dengue. Continue reading →

India 1 full year polio-free for the first time in history

polio, vaccines

Re-posted from Sabin the World

In 1957, during a time when polio epidemics ravaged countries worldwide and many considered polio to be the world’s most feared disease, Albert B. Sabin began human trials to test his live oral polio vaccine. From 1952 to 1961, the number of polio cases in the United States fell from 58,000 to 161, due in large part to Sabin’s vaccine.

Today marks another major milestone. India, one of only four remaining countries with endemic polio, has gone one full year without a single case of the disabling disease. Just three years ago, India had more cases of polio than any other country. Since then, 2 million volunteer vaccinators have worked throughout India to deliver more than 780 million polio vaccinations a year. The polio eradication effort is part of an effort led by the Indian government, with the help of global partners like WHO, UNICEF and Rotary International, to set up an infrastructure for delivering health services to some of the most underprivileged children in India and in the world.

“I’d like to praise the people in India for all their hard work and for demonstrating that polio really can be eradicated,” says Dr. Ciro de Quadros, Sabin executive vice president and champion of the polio eradication efforts in the Americas. “We should now apply lessons learned from India to fight back polio in more difficult countries like Nigeria and Pakistan. With the kind of commendable efforts shown in India, we can achieve global eradication of polio.”

More information can be found at Impatient Optimists, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and The End of Polio.