With the donation made by Hidralia, UNICEF can vaccinate 10,649 children against polio, a disease that can still be fatal in many countries around the world

Hidralia environmental company dedicated to water management in Andalusia, joins the UNICEF Spanish Committee solidarity campaign for another year with the aim of recalling the power of vaccines to save lives and to influence the importance of ensuring continuity of vaccination against preventable diseases in all parts of the world.

In this particularly harsh context, where we have seen how quickly an outbreak can spread without a vaccine to protect individuals and communities, UNICEF recalls that "every minute, vaccines save 5 children from preventable death from diseases such as measles, diarrhoea or pneumonia. This translates into between 2 and 3 million lives saved each year."

For this reason Hidralia joins the #PequeñasSoluciones campaign with a contribution of 5,000 euros, an amount with which UNICEF can vaccinate, for example, 10,649 children against polio (3 doses) or 6,775 against measles (2 doses). Diseases that we have almost forgotten but remain fatal in many countries around the world.

To this end, as has been customary since 2014, the CEO of Hidralia, Matilde Mancha, and UNICEF Committee of Andalusia, Claudia Zafra, have signed a collaboration agreement through which the company also undertakes to disseminate, through its online invoice and other digital media, such as its website, this solidarity campaign.

With the 'Little Solutions' initiative UNICEF wants to draw attention to the idea that a small bottle can contain enough power to save a life by providing children with a protective shield against deadly viruses and bacteria that cause diseases such as pneumonia, polio, measles or diarrhoea. Vaccines can therefore be considered #PequeñasSoluciones against very serious problems that put child survival at risk.

"The COVID-19 Pandemic has reminded us of the importance of having vaccines and how a virus affects all aspects of our lives. Diseases that we have practically eradicated or achieved that are not serious for our health thanks to vaccines, are still very present elsewhere, and can become fatal. That is why this collaboration with Unicef is so important, with whom we have been supporting its various campaigns for seven years," said Matilde Mancha.

Diseases that can be prevented

En 2019, nearly 14 million children received no vaccine even though vaccination is the highest-impact and most return public health intervention for health and the economy. Many of these children live in remote rural areas, slums, and conflict-affected areas that disrupt health systems and vaccination programs, leading to a drop in immunization coverage. In countries such as Central African Republic, Somalia, Chad, Guinea, Papua New Guinea or South Sudan, diphtheria, tetanus and tosferina coverage rates do not reach 50%. In other words, more than half of children are unprotected from preventable infections.

In 2020 the importance of vaccines has become even more apparent, but as the world awaits the solution to the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot forget about diseases that can be prevented and prevent thousands of child deaths each year. Health systems in many countries around the world are overloaded by the coronavirus pandemic, which has disrupted essential services, including vaccination services. It is essential that efforts in the fight against coronavirus complement those dedicated to the fight against other diseases that remain there, threatening the health and lives of the little ones, especially those most vulnerable.

In our country vaccination indicators are good, with a child vaccination rate of 95% on all vaccines (except measles, which was 94% in 2018 and 2019). During the months of March and April of this year vaccinations considered a priority were reduced and there were delays of other vaccines in the calendar.