The Pneumococcal Awareness Council of Experts (PACE) is a project of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and is composed of global experts in

infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable di ...

s and

vaccine A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious or malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verified.

s. Established in December 2006, The Council seeks to raise awareness among policymakers and aims to secure global commitments to prevent pneumococcal disease, a leading infectious killer of children and adults worldwide.World Health Organization
"Pneumococcal vaccines"
/ref> The Council works in collaboration and partnership with countries,

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

, academia and industry.

Council Members

PACE is made up of 21 global experts on

s and

s from 17 countries around the world. The Council is chaired by Ciro A. de Quadros, Executive Vice President of the Sabin Vaccine Institute and Orin Levine, Executive Director of PneumoADIP at the

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. As the second independent, degree-granting institution for research in epi ...

Events

PACE has hosted and participated in a number of events worldwide to help raise awareness about pneumococcal disease. On May 4, 2007, the launch of PACE was announced at a press conference in

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At the event, PACE gave its first annual Global Leadership Award. The Global Leadership Award is given annually by PACE to recognize an individual, organization or country that has championed pneumococcal disease prevention and made a significant contribution towards policies that advance the introduction of

pneumococcal conjugate vaccine Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine is a pneumococcal vaccine and a conjugate vaccine used to protect infants, young children, and adults against disease caused by the bacterium ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'' (pneumococcus). It contains purified capsul ...

s. PACE Global Leadership Award recipients include: Dr. Thomas Cherian, who has helped accelerate the surveillance of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

throughout the developing world and contributed to research on the global

pneumococcal ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', or pneumococcus, is a Gram-positive, spherical bacteria, alpha-hemolytic (under aerobic conditions) or beta-hemolytic (under anaerobic conditions), aerotolerant anaerobic member of the genus Streptococcus. They are ...

disease burden Disease burden is the impact of a health problem as measured by financial cost, mortality, morbidity, or other indicators. It is often quantified in terms of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) or disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). Bot ...

. The Health Minister of Rwanda – the first country in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

to introduce

s; and the Health Minister of Costa Rica – the first country in

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to implement a nationwide vaccination program. On November 20, 2007, PACE's European launch took place in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

with representatives from professional societies, PACE member Pavla Krizova, and the Czech Ministry of Health in attendance. On February 15, 2008, PACE held a press event during the 3rd Regional Pneumococcal Symposium in

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Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

to call upon policy leaders in

and the region to assure access to

pneumococcal vaccines Pneumococcal vaccines are vaccines against the bacterium ''Streptococcus pneumoniae''. Their use can prevent some cases of pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. There are two types of pneumococcal vaccines: conjugate vaccines and polysaccharide v ...

and to support the expansion of health systems to deliver them and monitor their impact. On June 10, 2008, PACE along with the Sabin Vaccine Institute, PATH and PneumoADIP, participated in the 6th International Symposium on Pneumococci and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD-6)The Lancet (2009)
"Burden of disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae in children younger than 5 years: global estimates"
/ref> in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. PACE issued a Global Call to Action on Pneumococcal Disease Prevention, urging governments to take steps to make financing available for access to

. On October 24, 2008, over 100 professional medical societies, institutions and organizations from around the world had signed PACE’s Global Call to Action to urge governments, donors and industry to ensure access to

. Rwanda announced that they would be one of the first two countries to introduce the

pneumococcal vaccine Pneumococcal vaccines are vaccines against the bacterium '' Streptococcus pneumoniae''. Their use can prevent some cases of pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. There are two types of pneumococcal vaccines: conjugate vaccines and polysaccharide v ...

into its national immunization program in the spring of 2009. On January 31, 2009 PACE and the Hib Initiative hosted ''Childhood Pneumonia and Meningitis: Recent Advances'' at Aga Khan University in

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. The event, brought together stakeholders in child health from

, including health professionals, representatives from the Ministry of Health and EPI officials. Event leaders, PACE Co-chair Dr. Ciro de Quadros and PACE member Dr. Zulfiqar Bhutta, highlighted the role of advocacy in combating childhood

and meningitis. On March 3, 2009, PACE, in conjunction with the Sabin Vaccine Institute, PneumoADIP and the

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

, hosted a media briefing at the Sabin Vaccine Institute's 4th Regional Pneumococcal Symposium in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, at which PACE released two new studies, ''Sequelae Due to Bacterial Meningitis among African Children: A Systematic Literature Review'', and ''Bacterial Infections in Persons with Sickle Cell Disease: A Review of Data from Africa with a Focus on Pneumococcal Disease''."Bacterial Infections in Persons with Sickle Cell Disease: A Review of Data from Africa with a Focus on Pneumococcal Disease"
/ref> The event also sought to highlight

's introduction of the

, with support from the

GAVI Alliance GAVI, officially Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (previously the GAVI Alliance, and before that the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) is a public–private global health partnership with the goal of increasing access to immunization ...

. In October 2009, PACE conducted a briefing and one-on-one meetings with members of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

and

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

to recommend action on pneumococcal disease. On November 1–2, 2009 PACE, a member of the World Pneumonia Day Coalition, sponsored a press conference, policymaker roundtable, rally, march and symposium to commemorate World Pneumonia Day in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

where the country’s leaders and advocates focused their attention on the prevention and treatment of

. These events and activities were led by PACE member Dr. Samir K. Saha. PAC
World Pneumonia Day
events also took place in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

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, the

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, China and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Global Call to Action on Pneumococcal Disease

In 2008, PACE launched its Global Call to Action on Pneumococcal Disease Prevention in partnership with 114 professional medical societies, organizations and institutions from around the world.

PACE Commissioned Studies

PACE commissioned two studies, ''Sequelae Due to Bacterial Meningitis among African Children: A Systematic Literature Review'', and ''Bacterial Infections in Persons with Sickle Cell Disease: A Review of Data from Africa with a Focus on Pneumococcal Disease'', that highlighted the increased risk for children in

of contracting pneumococcal disease and suffering its devastating consequences. It was found that African children who contract pneumococcal disease are 36 times as likely to have

sickle-cell Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red blo ...

disease, a blood disorder prevalent in African children that increases the risk for infectious diseases and early death. Inn addition, the research showed that up to one-half of all children in

who get

pneumococcal meningitis A pneumococcal infection is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', which is also called the pneumococcus. ''S. pneumoniae'' is a common member of the bacterial flora colonizing the nose and throat of 5–10% of healthy ...

will either die or be disabled as a consequence of the disease, even when treated with antibiotics in a hospital. As the three leading causes of bacterial meningitis in childhood are vaccine preventable, the regular use of conjugate vaccines would reduce the high burden of morbidity and mortality in both epidemic and endemic settings.

References

External links

Sabin.org/PACE
* Pneumococcal disease *

Pneumococcal vaccines Pneumococcal vaccines are vaccines against the bacterium ''Streptococcus pneumoniae''. Their use can prevent some cases of pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. There are two types of pneumococcal vaccines: conjugate vaccines and polysaccharide v ...

World Pneumonia Day

PATH

PneumoADIP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pneumococcal Awareness Council Of Experts Medical and health organizations based in Washington, D.C. Organizations established in 2006