Twelve hypodermic needles, China, 1994

Set of 12 sterilisable hypodermic needles, as approved by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation, for use in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation. Manufactured and supplied by UNICEF, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1994 (see note).

Hypodermic needles are used to inject drugs or vaccines into the body through the skin. This set of twelve stainless steel needles was approved for use in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) run by UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Fund) and the WHO (World Health Organisation). They were made in Shanghai, China, and can be sterilised by boiling in water or being passed though a flame.

When the programme was launched in 1974, fewer than five per cent of children were vaccinated against diseases such as tetanus and measles. Today that figure is eighty per cent.