Don't blow your future — get vaccinated
The Immunization Department's exhibit at this year's World Health Assembly — taking place on 19-24 May — focuses on the contribution of vaccination to achieving Millennium Development Goal 4 to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two thirds between 1990 and 2015. With the slogan Don't blow your future — get vaccinated, the stand showcases a banner and flyer illustrating past, present and future vaccine licensure and the more than two million deaths averted through immunization every year. Two helium balloons rise high above the stand, with the phrases Reach more - expand vaccination coverage and Introduce new vaccines. Vaccine-preventable diseases are responsible for about one quarter of the 10 million deaths occurring annually among children under five years of age. Improving services to deliver traditional vaccines will reduce the number of vaccine-preventable deaths. In addition, introducing new vaccines will help prevent some 1.1 million child deaths attributed to pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease and rotavirus.