Vaccination policy can drive economic growth, expert says.

2004 AUG 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immunization programs can be highly effective tools for promoting economic growth and poverty reduction in developing countries, according to Dr. David Bloom of the Harvard School of Public Health.

Bloom's remarks at the Sixth International Rotavirus Symposium in Mexico City underscored the potential benefit of upcoming new vaccines against rotavirus, a disease that kills 608,000 children every year, representing 39% of the 1.56 million deaths from all diarrhea worldwide.

"A 10-year gain in life expectancy translates into nearly 1 additional percentage point in annual income growth," Bloom said. "This is significant given that the world economy grows by 2-3% a year. Ten-year life expectancy gains are within the grasp of many developing countries."

A major means of increasing life expectancy is to lower the infant mortality rate, which can vary by a factor of more than 50 between developed and developing countries, Bloom said, and one of the main ways to decrease infant mortality is through vaccination against childhood diseases.

Approximately 6 million children a year succumb to communicable diseases, many of which could be prevented by expanded access to immunization. Based on the latest figures reported at the meeting, rotavirus causes approximately 10% of those deaths.

Rotavirus is considered by experts to be a particularly promising disease to target for global childhood vaccination. "Rotavirus vaccines are the low-hanging fruit for new vaccine development," said Roger Glass, chief of the Viral Gastroenteritis Section at the U.S. Centers for Disease ...