Photo story – “Leaving no one behind – saving lives through immunization” exhibit

To mark European Immunization Week and World Immunization Week 2018, WHO/Europe and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) collaborated to create a photo and video exhibit titled “Leaving no one behind – saving lives through immunization”. The exhibit showcases WHO and UNICEF’s strong partnership and joint commitment in the field of immunization, and it seeks to increase awareness that vaccines work and they save lives.

“We are here to call on you to act this week, to have a voice, to make sure the public hears that voice, that your constituents and your counterparts hear that voice in their countries,” said Robb Butler, Programme Manager of the Vaccine-Preventable Diseases and Immunization unit at WHO/Europe, who opened the exhibit together with Heather Deehan, Chief of the Vaccine Centre at UNICEF’s Supply Division.

The images from the exhibit, shared through the photo story below, help illustrate the journey that vaccines take – from the manufacturing site all the way to the child.

In the WHO European Region, of the 10.7 million infants born each year, 650 000 still do not receive the complete 3-dose series of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine by the age of 1. However, progress is being made in some areas. The Region has been certified polio-free since 2002, and measles cases have been reduced by 90% since 1990.