Hepatitis B (hep B or HB)
One of the three under-used vaccines which is being made available to the poorest countries by GAVI/The Vaccine Fund (HebB, Hib and Yellow Fever), HepB is one of the leading causes of liver cancer and cirrhosis. A safe and effective vaccine against hepatitis B was first licensed in 1982, but had not been widely used in developing countries until GAVI.
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib)
One of the three under-used vaccines which is being made available to the poorest countries by GAVI/The Vaccine Fund (HepB, Hib and Yellow Fever).
Hib is a bacterial infection which mainly affects children under five and can lead to life-threatening meningitis and pneumonia. Safe and effective Hib conjugate vaccines were first licensed in the early 1990s but have not been widely used in developing countries.
By December 2003 almost 5 million children in low-income countries had been immunized with Hib vaccine through support from GAVI and 15 of the Vaccine Fund eligible countries have been approved for Hib vaccine.
Human papillomavirus (HPV)
HPV is one of the most common causes of sexually transmitted infection (STI). More than 100 different types of HPV exist, most of which are harmless, however, some types of HPV can cause cervical cancer. Screening programmes and treatment have dramatically reduced cervical cancer however, it is very expensive and most developing countries do not have sufficient resources. Several candidate vaccines are in advanced stages of human trials.
|