Expanded immunization saves over 50 mln lives in Africa: WHO

NAIROBI, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Large-scale immunization drives targeting African children have saved an estimated 51.2 million lives in the last five decades, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Wednesday.

Routine inoculation of African children against killer diseases including measles has been made possible under the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI), a WHO initiative launched in 1974 to boost equitable access to life-saving vaccines to all children, the global health agency said in a statement.