Routine Immunization Strengthening and New Vaccines-- Links with Global Pneumonia and Diarrheal Disease Prevention and the MDGs

Shimp, Lora

In 2010, 7.6 million children under five died, with almost 90% of these deaths attributable to: neonatal causes, pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria, measles, and HIV/AIDS. Existing immunization programs are estimated to avert between 2-3 million deaths yearly. Of the current child mortality, immunization (including new vaccines against pneumonia and rotavirus) can further prevent approximately 20% of these deaths.

This panel describes efforts of multi-agency and government partners[1] at global, regional and country levels to strengthen immunization systems and programs to reduce morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), contributing to MDG4. This includes improving equity across target populations, partner coordination, application of the “Reaching Every District” (RED) approach[2], and examples of best practices and lessons learned to enhance community involvement, service quality and capacity building of health staff at all levels.

Immunization programs have successfully reduced VPD incidence and served as a platform for public health interventions and health system strengthening. As a cornerstone towards achieving MDG4, the new Decade of Vaccines global initiative and GAVI Alliance partnership support increasing immunization coverage and worldwide introduction of vaccines against pneumonia, rotavirus, and other priority diseases. Approaches like RED have supported countries to build capacity at sub-national levels (through training, on-the-job improvements, formative supervision, and self-monitoring and assessment) and enable analysis and use of coverage data to improve micro-planning and district/health area prioritization to reach un/under-immunized infants.

[1] The USAID-funded Maternal and Child Health Integrated Program (MCHIP), USAID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, John Snow Inc (JSI), World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the GAVI Alliance, and the Governments of Kenya, India, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Ghana and others are noted.

[2] In 2002, the Reaching Every District (RED) approach was developed and introduced by WHO, UNICEF, USAID and other partners to improve immunization systems in districts with low coverage.

Learning Objectives: TBD