A study on “Inpatient Treatment Costs for Pneumonia, Malaria and Meningitis in Children under five years in Kenya”, illustrates the need for cost-effective vaccine interventions for the treatment of these diseases.* Depending on the facility type (referral level) the average treatment cost of meningitis is 2 to 3 fold higher than treating malaria, while average treatment costs for pneumonia lie between 8% and 80% more expensive than treating malaria. Please click here to read more.

*Ayieko P,Akumu AO, Griffiths UK, English M,  The economic burden of inpatient paediatric care: Household and provider costs for treatment of pneumonia, malaria and meningitis:Submitted to Cost Effectiveness Resource Allocation, Nov 2007

Kenya plans to introduce a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine that contains 7 serotypes. How will this affect the epidemiology of other serotypes not included in the vaccine? This study on “Serotype-Specific Epidemiology of Invasive Pneumococcal Disease Among Hospitalized Children in the Pre-vaccine Era in Kenya" examines the serotype-specific epidemiology of IPD with special focus on serotypes 1 & 5 which are not included in the vaccine. Please click here to read more.

*Ndiritu M, Karani A, Nyiro J, Lewa P, Njenga S, Mwarumba S, Lowe B S, Bauni E, Mwangi I, Berkley J, , Marsh K, English M,  Scott J A G