Vaccines in the developing world
Lesson 8
The impacts of immunisation in both developing and developed societies.
Learning outcomes & key terms
Students will learn about communicable diseases and their impact on a community.
Students will learn about the impact of vaccination in developing and developed countries.
Students will understand that many factors play a role in distributing vaccines.
Students will learn to empathise with life situations different from their own.
Emerging or developing societies
Societies that are characterized by a relatively low level of economic and technological development.
Developed societies
Societies that are characterized by a relatively high level of economic and technological development
Science understanding
Biological sciences
Describing how the requirements for life (for example oxygen, nutrients, water and removal of waste) are provided through the coordinated function of body systems such as the respiratory, circulatory, digestive, nervous and excretory systems.
Explaining how body systems work together to maintain a functioning body using models, flow diagrams or simulations.
Investigating the response of the body to changes as a result of the presence of micro-organisms.
Science as a human endeavour
Scientific understanding, including models and theories, is contestable and is refined over time through a process of review by the scientific community.
Advances in scientific understanding often rely on technological advances and are often linked to scientific discoveries.
People use scientific knowledge to evaluate whether they accept claims, explanations or predictions, and advances in science can affect people’s lives, including generating new career opportunities.
Values and needs of contemporary society can influence the focus of scientific research.
Science enquiry skills
Formulate questions or hypotheses that can be investigated scientifically.
Analyse patterns and trends in data, including describing relationships between variables and identifying inconsistencies.
Vaccines can change the world
Helping those who need it most
Prof Booy explains the recent Cholera outbreak around the world and how war, dirty water and poor vaccination rates have caused this outbreak in 2018.
Outside of clean drinking water, vaccines are the most effective way of protecting against infectious diseases.
What is quarantine?
Quarantine is when a human or animal is isolated in a special place if they have been exposed to potentially harmful diseases.
For example, when the American astronauts came back from the moon landing they were quarantined for 30 days as there was a concern that they may come into contact with harmful, unknown bacteria.
In this video Prof Booy explains quarantine, shows some examples in Sydney and discusses why it is helpful to protect the traveller and the local community.
Infectious diseases in the developing world
Prof G Dennis Shanks is responsible for ensuring that Australian soldiers who travel around the world are immunised to protect those who they meet in foreign countries and they are immunised to be protected from infectious diseases they will encounter overseas.
Anytime humanity is disrupted through war, there is almost always one or more pandemics that emerge from it.
Prof Shanks explores very interesting cases here in the pacific and explores the fascinating flu results from the World War 1.
Class workshop
You are going to discover what it’s like to be a part of a different community.
You need to research this community and find out how vaccines have changed their world.
You will report your findings to the class.
Choose one of the countries below. Your teach will make sure that at all countries are included.
Describe what it would be like to live in the community your have selected
- What housing is there?
- Would the children attend school?
- Would they have running water?
- Would their parents work?
- How affluent is this community?
Research the following points on the your community and the disease that most affects it
- What is the disease caused by and how does the disease affect the body?
- Who does it affect the in community?
- How is that community impacted by the disease?
- How would a vaccine for the disease change the lives of that community?
- How is the vaccine delivered?
- How many doses are required to be effective?
- How many deaths has the vaccine prevented around the world?
- What factors affect it’s distribution to where it is needed (your community)?
Afghanistan
Hi, my name is Adeeb.
I live in a remote farming village in the mountains of Afghanistan.
My dad made our house using mud and clay.
We don’t get any visitor or outside .
My dad says that there is a polio epidemic in the region and he is very worried –can you tell me why?
Australia
Tyler is a 2 week old baby who lives in Brisbane, Australia.
He lives in a house in an affluent suburb.
His parents have insisted that all of their friends and family have the pertussis vaccination before anyone came to visit Tyler.
Why would anyone from this community need a pertussis vaccine?
Africa
Mary is a 2 year old in Nigeria.
She lives in a hut made from materials from the local rubbish dump.
Clean water is not available in her village so her mother walks many miles to find water from a well.
Sometimes the well becomes polluted and there is an outbreak of cholera.
Why is it important for Mary’s mum to find a clean water well?
United States of America
My name is Miles and I live with my mum, dad and sister, Ella, in San Fransisco.
We frequently visit Disney World during the school holidays as it is our favourite place in the world!
Recently their has been an outbreak of measles at the resort and our parents are worried.
We were never vaccinated their children as our parents don’t believe in it .
I don’t think there is anything to worry about –I mean, this is America!
United Kingdom
Hey, I’m Laura and I live in London.
I am 15 and I take the “tube” to school.
Mum says that I have been vaccinated against Meningococcal disease but I don’t know why.
Surely it’s really rare in a developed country?
China
I am Li Weiand used to live in a farming village.
We have recently moved to the city to find work.
My parents did not vaccinate me as we lived in a remote part of the country and vaccines were not available. They were not vaccinated either.
My dad has been told that he has hepatitis B –what does that mean for us?
Summary
Immunisation rates are very different across the developing and developed world.
Not everyone is immunised from the common or rare infectious diseases. This can affect not just health, but also the economic prosperity of the local communtiy and the country.
Vaccines can help bring children and their parents out of poverty.
Quiz
1) Cholera
a) Occurs equally all over the world
b) Is no longer a problem, it’s been eradicated
c) Is caused by a parasite
d) Occurs in places where clean drinking water isn’t readily available
2) Quarantine is
a) Effective for diseases with a short incubation and recovery time
b) Is effective for all diseases
c) Has only been used since the COVID-19 pandemic began
d) Isn’t important
3) In 1918 the Spanish influenza affected
a) Children the most
b) Animals the most
c) Healthy adults the most
d) Old people the most
4) Vaccines contribute to
a) Children’s ability to attend schools because they’re sick less often
b) Children’s ability to get better jobs because they can finish their education
c) Parent’s ability to work because they don’t have to stay home to care for sick children as often
d) All of the above