# Vaccination Saves Lives – Can It Improve Health Equity February 23, 2018 Medical impoverishment is one of the main factors forcing families below the World Bank’s poverty line of less than US$1.90 per day. A [recent paper](https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0861) in *Health Affairs* finds that vaccination policies are potentially important channels for providing financial protection and improving health equity. It has been well established that vaccines have substantial health impact and are among the most cost-effective (i.e., high value for resources invested) of public health interventions. Increasingly, however, national policy makers are interested in not only improving overall health, but in promoting health equity and protecting families from impoverishment. At the global level, the international community has positioned poverty reduction and health equity high on the global development agenda with support of the Sustainable Development Goals and universal health coverage. In the analysis, authors estimated the differential health impact (measured as the number of deaths averted) and household economic impact (measured as the number of cases of medical impoverishment averted) of ten antigens and their corresponding vaccines across income quintiles for 41 low- and middle-income countries. All 41 countries included in the study are supported by [Gavi](http://www.gavi.org/), a public-private partnership committed to increasing equitable use of vaccines in lower-income countries. The results are profound: The study found that vaccines administered between 2016 and 2030 would prevent 36 million deaths. Vaccines will have the greatest impact on reducing cases of poverty caused by hepatitis B, helping an estimated 14 million people avoid medical impoverishment. [Vaccines will also significantly reduce cases of poverty](https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/02/05/harvard-researchers-vaccines-could-lessen-deaths-poverty-developing-countries/gHGbTVEnfZg585iHy2E1II/story.html) caused by measles and meningitis A, averting an estimated 5 million and 3 million cases respectively. Measles vaccine is estimated to prevent by far the highest number of deaths: 22 million of the 36 million total. The poorest 20 percent of the population represented over a quarter of deaths prevented by vaccination. Faculty Director, Sue J. Goldie, emphasized the importance of a study like this, commenting, “While the global community now clearly recognizes the bidirectional link between poverty and health, we still lack data on how to design and scale health programs and delivery models that will improve health, promote equity, and provide financial protection.” Based on their results, the authors called for investment into the collection of country-specific data on the distribution of the health (both mortality and morbidity) and financial burden of vaccine-preventable diseases by key subpopulations, such as income quintile and geographical setting. Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)