The widespread establishment of immunisation programmes over the past 30 years has provided remarkable achievements. Smallpox was eradicated, the worldwide incidence of poliomyelitis has dropped 99% since 1988, 1 Anon Progress towards global poliomyelitis eradication: preparation for the oral polio vaccine cessation era. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2004; 79 : 349-355 PubMed Google Scholar and more than 2 million children's deaths from diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, and measles are prevented each year ( figure). 2 Hadler SC Cochi SL Bilous J Cutts FT Vaccination programs in developing countries. in: Plotkin SA Orenstein WA Vaccines. 4th edn. WB Saunders, Philadelphia 2003: 1407-1441 Google Scholar , 3 WHO Estimates of disease burden and cost-effectiveness. http://www.who.int/immunization_monitoring/burden/estimates_burden/en/index.html Date: 2002 Google Scholar Hepatitis B vaccination could annually prevent an additional 600 000 future deaths (from liver cirrhosis and hepatoma). 4 Anon Global progress towards universal childhood hepatitis B vaccination. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2003; 78 : 366-370 PubMed Google Scholar More than 75% of children younger than 1 year of age receive three doses of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, and at least one dose of measles vaccine. 5 WHO/IVB WHO vaccine preventable diseases: monitoring system, 2005 global summary. http://www.who.int/immunization_monitoring/data/gs_gloprofile.pdf Date: 2005 Google Scholar Figure Distribution by cause of 2·5 million child deaths preventable through immunisation (2002) 3 WHO Estimates of disease burden and cost-effectiveness. http://www.who.int/immunization_monitoring/burden/estimates_burden/en/index.html Date: 2002 Google Scholar View Large Image Figure Viewer Download Hi-res image