Washington, DC – Today, the anti-poverty advocacy group, ONE, launched a new campaign and cutting-edge PSA to promote increased access to childhood vaccines that combat two of the biggest killers of children in the developing world: pneumonia and diarrhea. Leading experts and parent advocates joined ONE to share why vaccines are a “best buy in public health” because they are one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent disease for a lifetime.

“In the last 50 years, we’ve cut childhood deaths in half with the help of vaccines and now we have the opportunity to save four million more kids’ lives in the next five years,” said American Academy of Pediatrics President-Elect Robert Block, MD, FAAP.  “As a pediatrician, I know the power of vaccines to protect a child for a lifetime.  The AAP is proud to be a part of ONE’s campaign to dramatically reduce childhood deaths and give every child a healthy start in life.”

“As parents, we know firsthand the gut-wrenching feeling of being told that your child has a chronic disease that could shorten his or her life,” said vaccine advocates, Keith and Dede Van Zandt of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “All parents, whether in America or Africa, should have access to these tools to keep their children safe from disease. We know personally, that had a vaccine been available to our daughter, her life and ours would have been drastically different.”  The Van Zandts adopted their daughter, Annie, from Romania when she was four years old. Being born in the developing world, Annie didn’t have access to the Hepatitis B vaccine and contracted the chronic and painful disease from her biological mother.

Mobilizing our more than two million members, ONE will raise awareness about the importance of childhood vaccines through our extensive social media networks, community events, grassroots organization and congressional outreach. The campaign will expand throughout the year. The goals are to convince world leaders ahead of a pledging conference on June 13 in London, to commit to save the lives of four million children in five years through the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and to likewise convince the United States Congress to fund this cost-effective effort.

“I was shocked when I learned that, in the developing world, more kids die from pneumonia or diarrhea than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.  This should not happen when vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal virus – two primary causes of these deadly conditions – exist and work” said ONE Communications Director Ginny Wolfe. “According to a recent public opinion survey commissioned by ONE, 90 percent of Americans believe it is important to provide access to vaccines for children in the developing world. Our job now is to ensure that our elected officials make this a priority.”

ONE’S PSA “Why Bother?” brings to life the oft-jaded views of adults who do not have the full facts about the progress being made in the fight against poverty as told through the mouths of those who most often imitate them: children. The PSA ends by coming full circle to share the many successes achieved for less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget and urges viewers to raise their voices to help save the lives of 4 million more children over the next 5 years. To watch the PSA, please go to: http://www.one.org/us/actnow/vaccines2011/.

Not only do vaccines help protect against preventable death, they also help to lower health and other costs in the long-term by reducing clinic visits and hospitalizations thereby allowing children and adults to participate in school and work as productive members of society.

If given sufficient resources, GAVI will make significant advances towards reducing child mortality by immunizing 90 million children with pneumococcal vaccine (to fight against pneumonia), 53 million children with rotavirus vaccine (to fight against diarrhea), and 230 million children against the five deadly diseases covered by a single shot of pentavalent vaccine.  With these vaccines, GAVI expects to reach 243 million children and save the lives of 4 million children in five years.

ONE is an advocacy organization dedicated to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease around the world, particularly in Africa.  Backed by 2 million members, we work with government leaders in both parties to support proven, cost-effective solutions to save lives and build sustainable futures. To learn more, please go to www.one.org.

The American Academy of Pediatrics is an organization of 60,000 primary care pediatricians, pediatric medical subspecialists and pediatric surgical specialists dedicated to the health, safety and well being of infants, children, adolescents and young adults. (www.aap.org)