Shigella is the leading bacterial cause of childhood diarrhea, and infections can have long-term effects on growth and development. No licensed Shigella vaccines currently exist, but several promising candidates in development could become available in a few years.

PATH conducted a series of studies to better understand the public health value of potential Shigella vaccines and help inform decisions by international agencies, funders, vaccine developers, and national policymakers. As part of this work, PATH supported the development of two vaccine impact models to estimate the effects of reducing not only Shigella diarrhea but also Shigella-attributable stunting.

One model measures cost-effectiveness based on health outcomes, and the other measures the long-term societal economic benefit of reducing stunting, focusing on its impact on future wages and productivity. This fact sheet provides an overview of the results.