Vaccination is an essential activity in the reduction of morbidity and mortality rate. In has ensured better standards of living and has saved several lives. In the attempt to combat infectious diseases, the use of vaccines has been argued to have potentiated for better lives by eradicating poverty in the various societies. However this observation has been debated by various scientists as to whether the vaccination process can serve as the core element in the reduction of poverty levels (Dr. T. Pang, 2017).
In the report given by the World Bank in 2015, the estimation of poverty was at 10.7 percent of the population living on less than US$1.90 a day and this showed a decrease in the percentage as compared to the 2013 analysis. Globally, a vast number of people live in rural areas, poorly educated and are associated with agriculture and are of tender age that is below 18 years. This individuals are often viewed to be debilitated by a set of challenges which are mainly tropical diseases. The science of vaccination therefore can help in well-bringing of the lives of individuals and see them go to work schools and attending to the core responsibilities in the modern society (Dr. T. Pang, 1994). Vaccination is thus cost-effective means of eradicating poverty.
Health status is an indicator of power and thus poverty serves as a course of poor health. When the cost of vaccination is not affordable to a population, they may will be pushed into poverty. Therefore in order to increase chances of life they may tend to increase the fertility rates which would otherwise predispose them to the risk of poverty. However the vaccination program has shown good results on the global health. Diseases destroy the energy and thus the talents are lost. They retard the growth of children both physically and mentally. These suggests a poverty threat that would drive into our economy (Melinda, 2014). For instance malaria deter individuals from being productive, over time it causes deaths and even low earnings and savings to the affected individuals.
In the implementation of the vaccination programs it has ensured rise in life expectancy ratio. The affected population has been able to control the fertility rate which has been done through effective education, seminars and administration of the vaccines. These activities have ensured that the society is able to meet its needs and thus reducing the poverty levels.
The vaccination program has been a success over the past years in the alleviation of poverty. For instance, the meningococcal vaccine which are a group of vaccines using the conjugation mechanism to change the unconjugated polysaccharide types to induce antibody response. This has showed a positive response to being immunogenic in infants and bringing about memory responses and augmenting the antibody levels (MacLennan, 2013). Through such vaccination the children are able to grow well mentally making them capable of learning and acquisition of knowledge. It is through such programs that would ensure that the productivity of the people in the society are upheld. Through the introduction of vaccine the lives of many have also been saved thus it has lengthen the productivity of a large number of the income earning individuals and even the laborers.
However the vaccination activity despite the positive impact is faced with certain challenges. This ranges from resistance to cost of production. There are major diseases that still bring great challenges to the health sector. This includes hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenza type b, rotavirus and typhoid fever (Dr. Pang, 1994). Amid the trial by various governments to curb the spread of such diseases, it has not been possible to eradicate them. This farther poses a high cost of maintaining treatment to the infected as well as high cost of production.
Therefore most of the developing countries are not able to eradicate such diseases. Certain viral infections are also fast spreading and have a high rate of replication (i.e. HIV virus and Ebola virus). In the trials to invent effective vaccines for such infections, they highly mutate and tend to change their genomic structure (Dr. Pang, 2017). These mutations eventually lead to drug resistance and scientists thus have to continue researching for the new vaccines. In addition, most of the developing counties have poor surveillance and inadequate data in tracking of the disease burdens as well as poor scientific research bases. This eventually leads to unawares society and lack of proper education to the population concerning the emerging diseases. In the developing countries lack of proper diet would also predispose the population to the infectious diseases (Maclennan, 2013).
Eventually, I tend to believe that there is a strong connection between poverty and vaccination. Since vaccination aims at promoting and achieving better health standards, therefore it is a factor that would ensure productivity and as well encourage individuals to use their talents. Better health preserves energy and skills and thus by the fervent application of these in the modern society, the population would be able to grow also economically. Various governments should therefore subsidize the costs of affording the vaccines to reach a larger population with an aim of increasing the productivity of the nations. Therefore the use of vaccines has a greater impact in the reduction of poverty.
References
World Health Organization( 2011) Mr. Bill Gates, Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Speech to sixty-fouth World Heath Assembly. http://www.who.int/medicacentre/events/2011/wha64/bill_gates_speech_20110517/en/index.html, February 12, 2014
MacLennan CA, Levine MM. Invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella disease in Africa. 2013; 11(5):443-446. [ PubMed ]
PATH, (2014) Poverty Reduction and immunization, Prepared fpr The Bill and Melinda Gates by Alan Fairbank, Marty Makinen and Whitney Schott.
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES IN HEALTH-vol II- Dr. T. Pang, 1994Vaccination in Developing Countries, problems, challenges and Opportunities
World Health Organization (2013) sustaining the drive to overcome the global impact of neglected tropical diseases. www.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/7789241564540_eng.pdf.
