Children's Health

Immunization programs and an adequate supply of vaccines are indispensable for developing countries to safeguard the health of their children. Japan and the United States are therefore working closely together, providing support for the World Health Organization's Polio Eradication Program and the Children's Vaccine Initiative (CVI), with special emphasis on the Asia-Pacific region.

For some time, we have coordinated our attempts to eradicate polio in the Western Pacific, the region given first priority. These efforts have met with such success that the focus of attention has now turned to the second priority region, Southeast Asia. Our goal is to rid the area of polio by assisting countries concerned on the so-called National Immunization Day for the provision of polio vaccine to all children under the age of 5, and so on.