CIDRAP | UNICEF Ethiopia
An economic analysis published last week in The Lancet Global Health suggests that one of the world’s most ambitious public health initiatives has also been a financial and public health success. The World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) generated roughly $16 in economic benefits for every $1 spent from 1974 to 2024, write researchers led by a team at Peking University School of Public Health. In addition, they estimate that vaccination has prevented some 154 million deaths, nearly all of them in children younger than 5 years, and has accounted for 40% of the global reduction in infant mortality.