Question: What is the best way to prevent contagious diseases and illnesses from getting to children?

Alexandra Hogan answered on 18 Jun 2018:

For lots of countries and diseases, getting routine childhood vaccines is the best way of preventing illnesses in children. We have really safe and effective vaccines for diseases like whooping cough, measles, mumps, rubella, typhoid, polio and certain strains of influenza. These vaccines are responsible for saving millions of lives! For some diseases, vaccines are more difficult – like water borne illnesses that cause diarrhea, or malaria that is transmitted by mosquitoes. To prevent waterborne illnesses, good sanitation is really effective (like handwashing), and bednets are proven to reduce the change of being infected by malaria.