The diseases we are determined to fight: the child killers.
Despite the successes of the last decades, millions of children in Low-Income Countries still have no access to vaccines which could be developed in a relatively short period of time. Enteric infections are good examples of this.
Fondazione Achille Sclavo chose to concentrate its efforts in accelerating availability and fruition of vaccines against gastroenteritis and dysentery. The priority assigned to these infectious diseases is based on four facts:
- The very high impact of these diseases on children’s mortality,
- The lack of effective vaccines against these diseases in Low-Income Countries,
- The increase in antimicrobial resistance,
- The concrete possibility to make vaccines available within 5 to 10 years.
Fondazione Achille Sclavo is engaged in accelerating existing projects to eliminate salmonellosis, that are killing mainly poorest children living in slums and informal settings in Low-Income Countries.
Salmonellosis is caused by a series of bacteria of the Salmonelle family: Salmonella Typhi, Salmonella Paratyphi, Non-Typhoidal Salmonella and invasive Non-Typhoidal Salmonella.
The Salmonelle still cause hundreds of thousands of deaths in the poorest areas of the world.
Total mortality age 0 to 4, 5 to 9 and 10 to 14 years (in MM)
Number of deaths of children under age five, by MDG region, 1990–2017.
Today it’s possible to prevent children’s deaths due to salmonellosis: a commitment where we obtained our first results: a world free from diseases caused by Salmonelle, thanks to vaccines available or that will be made available within this decade.
Deaths due to gastroenteritis and dysentery, by age class, 2008.
Mortality due to gastroenteritis and dysentery, age class 0-4, by income class.
