The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has recently awarded the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) a $14 million, five-year grant to advance the use of typhoid vaccines for children in countries where typhoid fever still poses a serious public health threat.

Despite the existence since the late 1980s of two new-generation, safe and effective typhoid vaccines - the injectable, single-dose Vi polysaccharide vaccine, and the oral live 3-4 dose Ty21a - few countries have introduced them into their immunization programs. As a result, typhoid fever continues to exact a considerable toll each year - resulting in an estimated 21 million cases and over 200,000 deaths world-wide.

The Vi-based Vaccines for Asia (VIVA) Initiative will address the under-use of typhoid vaccines in endemic countries in a number of ways -- by conducting pilot vaccine introduction programs for school children in two typhoid-endemic...