A new PLOS Medicine modeling study links childhood vaccination directly to poverty reduction, estimating that major vaccines delivered in 52 Gavi-eligible low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2030 could avert around 200 million cases of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE). Using a microsimulation framework that combines vaccine impact projections with data on care-seeking, out-of-pocket costs, transport, and wage losses, researchers quantify the “financial risk protection” benefits of vaccines against hepatitis B, Hib, rotavirus, measles (routine and campaigns), and pneumococcal disease across wealth quintiles.
Nearly half of all CHE cases averted would occur in the poorest fifth of households, underscoring vaccines’ role as both a health and equity-enhancing investment. The study also ranks vaccines by the number of deaths and CHE episodes averted per US$1 million spent, showing that some antigens—such as the first dose of measles vaccine—would deliver particularly high returns in lives and financial shocks avoided among the poorest families. These results strengthen the case for incorporating financial risk protection and distributional impacts into immunization investment decisions, and highlight how sustained, pro-equity vaccine financing can advance both universal health coverage (SDG 3.8) and poverty reduction goals (SDG 1) in the world’s lowest-income settings.
Thumbnail image credit: Gavi / 2013 / Evelyn Hockstein
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