To mark 2025 World Malaria Day, Mali has introduced the R21 vaccine into its health system, targeting 600,000 children aged between 5 and 36 months based in 19 previous districts and 5 regions of the country. Mali is also experimenting with a hybrid mode of vaccine introduction. The first three doses are administered according to age, the fourth an...

Ahead of the International Health Economics Association (IHEA) World Congress in Bali, we are inviting contributions for oral presentations or suggestions for panel discussions at the Immunization Economics Pre-Congress taking place from July 19 – 20, 2025. All submissions are welcome: ongoing research, presentations on methods, as well a...

Venue: Kintele/Brazzaville (Congo) Dates: 22 – 25October 2024 Participants: 200 participants (online included) from 12 Countries of West Africa, supported by facilitators of WHO, UNICEF, Gavi, CDC Purpose: Main objectives of the meeting included the following Contribute to strengthening prevention, preparedness, and response to meningitis, y...

Epidemics of meningitis have long posed a serious health threat to countries across Africa, particularly within the so-called "African meningitis belt." The most devastating outbreak occurred in 1996, when an epidemic caused primarily by Neisseria meningitidis serogroup A infected over 200,000 people and claimed more than 20,000 lives. However, in ...

Abuja, Nigeria – A groundbreaking study has found that needle-free, intradermal delivery of the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) has the potential to significantly improve vaccination coverage and reduce costs in routine immunization programs. The findings offer a promising path forward for strengthening polio eradication efforts and expanding ...

January 2025 marks a major milestone in the fight against malaria, as African countries celebrate the first anniversary of the large-scale introduction of malaria vaccines into routine immunization programs. Cameroon led the way in January 2024 with the national rollout of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine, quickly followed by Burkina Faso in February...

Date and venue: 15-17 December 2024 - Cairo, EgyptParticipants: RVC chair and members, Officials form MOH of 9 countries, WHO (HQ, EMRO, CO) and CDC Overview: The purpose is to review and align WHO EMRO's Hepatitis B control verification guide with global elimination targets and review the progress report of Egypt on Hepatitis B Details: (200 ...

Dates and venue: 9-12 December 2024 - Muscat, Oman Participants: Managers and Directors of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) from Ministry of Health (MOH), National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAG) chairs or members, Immunization technical officers of WHO and UNICEF Purpose: Build capacity of EPI country teams to develop a ...

February 2025 - The Big Catch-Up (BCU) initiative, a targeted global effort to boost vaccination among children following declines driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, is making significant progress in addressing immunity gaps among children under five in six countries across the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Syri...

Dates and venue: 28 – 30 August 2024 - Yangon, MyanmarParticipants: Members of the Health Cluster (48 participants from 16 agencies). Purpose: The general objective was to ensure preparednessfor VPD outbreaks in the country and the specific objectives were to 1) ensure that an effective outbreak response plan is in place. 2)...

Dates and Venue: 25-27 September 2024, Kathmandu, Nepal Participants: WHO South-East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Poliomyelitis Eradication (SEA-RCCPE) members, Representatives of National Certification Committees for Polio Eradication (NCCPEs), National Containment Task Force, Ministry of Health (Nepal), donor and partner agenci...

Dates and venue: 9-13 December 2024 - Bangkok, Thailand Participants: A total of 40 participants from 12 countries including MOH officials, WHO and UNICEF attended the meeting. The countries represented were Afghanistan (WHO, UNICEF), Bangladesh (WHO, UNICEF, MOH), Bhutan (MOH), DPR Korea (UNICEF only), India (WHO, UNICEF), Indonesia (MOH, WHO...

Dili, Timor-Leste – A joint national and international review of the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and Vaccine-Preventable Disease Surveillance (VPDS), combined with a post-introduction evaluation (PIE), was conducted in Timor-Leste from October 14 to 25, 2024. The assessment aimed to evaluate the country’s immunization progress, identif...

Dates: 21-23/10/2024 Participants:Shri R V Karnan, IAS, Commissioner, Health and Family Welfare; Managing Director, National Health Mission, Government of TelanganaG Sudheera, Joint Director, Child Health and Immunization, Government of TelanganaSyed F. Quadri, Programme Manager, JSI, DelhiMr David Damara, State Technical Manager, JSI, Hyder...

Dates: 26/11/2024 Participants: Officials from the Family Welfare Division, pediatricians and surveillance officers from sentinel sites, and technical officers from WHO Overview: A sentinel site performance review meeting on strengthening rotavirus (Rota) and invasive bacterial diseases (IBD) surveillance in Nepal was held on 26 November 2024 ...

In a landmark moment for child health, Chad has introduced three powerful vaccines against malaria, pneumococcal infections, and rotavirus nationwide, targeting nearly one million children under the age of one. This historic rollout, launched on October 25, 2024, aims to drastically reduce rates of preventable diseases and save thousands of lives i...

Nepal has reaffirmed its success in maintaining the elimination of Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus (MNT), a milestone first achieved in 2005. A recent post-validation assessment conducted in December 2024 confirmed that the country continues to maintain an incidence rate of less than one case per 1,000 live births in all districts nationwide. ...

Mozambique has made impressive strides in childhood immunization, as confirmed by the latest IA2030 zero-dose country rankings. The country, which ranked 12th in 2021, achieved a milestone by dropping out of the top 20 countries with unvaccinated children as of 2023. This progress highlights Mozambique's effective response to The Big Catch-Up (BCU)...

ThinkWell is pleased to present an updated version of the Immunization Delivery Cost Catalogue, or IDCC, the most comprehensive, current, and standardized database on the cost of delivering vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. First developed in 2017 by ThinkWell under the Immunization Cost Action Network (ICAN) project, the IDCC was previ...

PATH’s new Vaccine Cost Calculators for pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and rotavirus vaccine aim to help country-level decision-makers specifically in middle-income countries compare products and estimate vaccination program costs for different vaccine options. These simple, Excel-based tools aim to help with decision-making to support the in...