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 tissue (biology), tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host (biology), host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmis ...

s and

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

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) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

, 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 university, private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins ...

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

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

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 made with the conjugate vaccine method and used to protect infants, young children, and adults against disease caused by the bacterium '' Streptococcus pneumoniae'' (pneumococcus). It c ...

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

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

throughout the developing world and contributed to research on the global

pneumococcal ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', or pneumococcus, is a Gram-positive, spherical bacteria, alpha-hemolytic member of the genus ''Streptococcus''. ''S. pneumoniae'' cells are usually found in pairs (diplococci) and do not form spores and are non mo ...

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). Both ...

. The Health Minister of

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

– the first country in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

to introduce

s; and the Health Minister of

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

– the first country in

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

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

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

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

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

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

to call upon policy leaders in

and the region to assure access to pneumococcal vaccines 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 city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

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

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 ...

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 Aga Khan University is a private research university based in Karachi, Pakistan. It is a non-profit institution and an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. It was founded in 1983 as Pakistan's first private university. Starting in 2000, t ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. 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 Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

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

WHO The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 15 ...

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

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, 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 two 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 ...

and

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

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 List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

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, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, the

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

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), also simply called sickle cell, is a group of inherited haemoglobin-related blood disorders. The most common type is known as sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying p ...

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 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

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
World Pneumonia Day

PATH

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