Lack of vaccines

More than 3.5 million children died in 1987 because they were not vaccinated against common children's diseases. Measles kill two million a year, tetanus one million and whooping cough 600,000. Polio kills some 50,000 people a year and cripples hundreds of thousands more.

It was reported in 2001 that US hospitals were rationing adult tetanus shots, reserving them for burn victims and other severely injured patients, because of a huge shortage of the vaccine. This followed the sudden announcement of one of the major suppliers that it would cease to make the vaccine altogether, calling it "a business decision. Each batch takes 11 months to make.