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Review
. 2023 May 29:16:2095-2110.
doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S409476. eCollection 2023.

Pneumococcal Disease: Global Disease Prevention Strategies with a Focus on the Challenges in Iraq

Ali Al-Jumaili  1 , Haider N Dawood  2 , Delan Ikram  3 , Ali Al-Jabban  3
Affiliations
Review

Pneumococcal Disease: Global Disease Prevention Strategies with a Focus on the Challenges in Iraq

Ali Al-Jumaili et al. Int J Gen Med. .

Abstract

Pneumococcal disease is a global public health concern that significantly contributes to clinical disease burden and economic burden. Patients frequently afflicted are young children and older adults, as well as the immunocompromised population. Immunization is the most effective public health strategy to combat pneumococcal disease and several vaccine formulations have been developed in this regard. Although vaccines have had a significant global impact in reducing pneumococcal disease, there are several barriers to its success in Iraq. The war and conflict situation, increasing economic crises and poverty, poor vaccine accessibility in the public sector, and high vaccine costs are a few of the major obstacles that impede a successful immunization program. The last reported third dose pneumococcal conjugate vaccine coverage for Iraq was 37% in 2019, which is expected to reduce even further owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, strategies and policies to improve pneumococcal vaccine availability and coverage need to be strengthened to achieve maximum benefits of immunization. In the current review, we provide an overview of the existing knowledge on pneumococcal disease-prevention strategies across the globe. The main aim of this manuscript is to discuss the current status and challenges of pneumococcal vaccination in Iraq as well as the strategies to prevent pneumococcal infections.

Keywords: Iraq; Streptococcus pneumoniae; pneumococcal disease; pneumococcal disease-prevention strategies; pneumococcal pneumonia; pneumococcal vaccines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Delan Ikram and Ali Al-Jabban are Pfizer employees. The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
World map highlighting the WUENIC coverage for PCV for the year 2019.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Trends in IPD incidence among children and adults before and following introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines in different countries.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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