Immunology and world health: key contributions from the global community.

The contributions of immunology to world health must be seen in the context of the severe disadvantage prevailing in many countries. Low life expectancy, high infant and maternal mortality rates, and continued prevalence of infections as causes of preventable deaths highlight what vaccines can do to improve the situation. This paper will briefly review some major new international health programs, including the GAVI Alliance; the Global Polio Eradication Initiative; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; and the Global Malaria Action Plan.

Vaccines of the future.

Vaccines of the future can be divided into three broad groups, namely those of the near future (<10 years); the medium-term future (10-19 years); and the long-term future (20-50 years). For the near future, there is some "low hanging fruit" which is clearly on the horizon, such as a Vi-conjugate vaccine for typhoid or a protein-based vaccine for Neisseria meningitidis serogroup B. Just slightly more distant will be vaccines for shigellosis and a common protein vaccine for Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Vaccines and future global health needs.

Increased international support for both research into new vaccines and their deployment in developing countries has been evident over the past decade. In particular, the GAVI Alliance has had a major impact in increasing uptake of the six common infant vaccines as well as those against hepatitis B and yellow fever. It further aims to introduce pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines in the near future and several others, including those against human papillomavirus, meningococcal disease, rubella and typhoid not long after that.