BELMOPAN, Belize – Belize has launched the State of the World’s Children 2023 under the theme “For Every Child, Vaccination” and has received cold chain equipment from UNICEF Belize to strengthen primary health care in the country.
The State of the World’s Children 2023 is UNICEF’s flagship report and was first launched globally in April of this year.
The 2023 edition is the first edition of the report solely dedicated to routine immunization. It sounds the alarm that there is a growing global immunization crisis resulting in 67 million children missing out on vaccinations between 2019 and 2021, with vaccination coverage levels decreasing in 112 countries.
The report reveals public perception of the importance of vaccines for children declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in 52 out of 55 countries studied. It notes that the children who are missing out live in the poorest, most remote, and marginalized communities, at times impacted by conflict.
New data produced for the report by the International Center for Equity in Health found that in the poorest households, one in five children are zero-dose while in the wealthiest, it is just one in 20.
The report found unvaccinated children often live in hard-to-reach communities such as rural areas or urban slums. They often have mothers who have not been able to go to school and who are given little say in family decisions.
These challenges are greatest in low- and middle-income countries, where about one in 10 children in urban areas are zero-dose and one in six in rural areas. In upper-middle-income countries, there is almost no gap between urban and rural children.
Comparable to other countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region, Belize has also reported a decline in immunization coverage from over 95 to less than 70 per cent in the last two years.
To address this child survival crisis, UNICEF is calling on governments to double down on their commitment to increase financing for immunization and to work with stakeholders to unlock available resources, including leftover COVID-19 funds, to urgently implement and accelerate catch-up vaccination efforts to protect children and prevent disease outbreaks.
The report is urging governments to urgently identify and reach all children, especially those who missed vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, strengthen demand for vaccines, including by building confidence and prioritize funding for immunization services and primary health care.
It also calls on governments to build resilient health systems through investment in female health workers, innovation, and local manufacturing.
UNICEF Belize says it has been partnering with the Ministry of Health & Wellness here providing critical support to the pandemic response and the subsequent recovery efforts to “build back better” reversing the pandemic’s impact on the health system.
Health and Wellness Minister, Kevin Bernard, who spoke at the launch of the report and the handing over ceremony, made reference of the past and ongoing technical assistance received from UNICEF and how the collaboration has strengthened, most significantly, our expanded program on Immunization.
“Immunization is a priority program of the Ministry of Health and Wellness. I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to UNICEF headquarters and to the UNICEF country office for the strong support provided to the Ministry for the strengthening of the Expanded Program on Immunization as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
UNICEF’s Regional Immunization Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Ralph Midy, shared an overview of the report and its implications for Belize.
He praised the government for prioritizing immunization services to “catch up” to pre-pandemic immunization rates and for investing in the strengthening of primary health care.
