Diarrhoea is among the top 10 causes of illnesses in children in Uganda. An infection known as Rotavirus accounts for almost 40% of diarrheal cases.

Health experts estimate that over 10,000 children below 5 years die each year due to rotavirus diarrhoea.

In Health Focus, NTV’S Walter Mwesigye looks at the efforts that the government has made in fighting the virus.

One in five children in Africa is missing out on life-saving vaccines. That's according to a report on Wednesday by the World Health Organisation. Its release comes amid confirmation this week that dozens of children in Lagos have died - from measles. Officials have been gathering today in Addis, to discuss strategies for universal immunization. CCTV's Girum Chala has the story.

Getting vaccinated against rubella before getting pregnant will protect unborn babies from Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS), which can cause serious birth defects, including blindness, deafness and heart defects. www.paho.org

How do vaccines prevent disease — even among people too young to get vaccinated? It's a concept called "herd immunity," and it relies on a critical mass of people getting their shots to break the chain of infection. Health researcher Romina Libster shows how herd immunity contained a deadly outbreak of H1N1 in her hometown. (In Spanish with subtitles.)

Anytime a child is paralysed by polio in any country, the World Health Organization moves fast to stop the virus. From gathering information to coordinating vaccination campaigns to delivering two drops of polio vaccine into the mouth of every child, the outbreak response protects children against this paralysing disease. Find out more at www.polioeradication.org.

On a visit to India, Dr. Orin Levine of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation saw the impact of eVIN, an important tool to modernize and strengthen India’s vaccine logistics systems. eVIN is an electronic, real-time monitoring system that helps healthcare officials ensure adequate supply of vaccines to every child in need, being rolled out in 12 states in the country.

It takes a long boat journey up the Mekong River to reach some of Lao PDR’s most isolated children. Learn more: http://www.gavi.org/?utm_source=youtu...

Some children live in places that are harder to reach with polio vaccines than others. In every vulnerable country, the World Health Organization helps make sure that every child receives polio vaccines; even those who are on the move, living in conflict zones or in remote communities. Find out more at www.polioeradication.org.

Action plans prioritize the corrective actions you must take to improve coverage and can help you turn corrective strategies into feasible activities. Learn how to help your facility overcome problems and reach its coverage goals. This EPI training video provides knowledge and skills based on WHO guidance (for example, Mid-Level Manager and Immunization in Practice modules) to support routine immunization in the field. Find more at www.immunizationacademy.com.

Global health authorities confirmed six new cases of polio in both Kenya and Somalia. These are the first cases outside of polio-endemic countries—Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan -- in 2013. Global health workers are rapidly responding to stop this outbreak.

Although Tunisia has not had polio cases for many years, it is in the same region as two polio endemic countries--Pakistan and Afghanistan. Until polio is eradicated from these two countries, Tunisia continues to be at risk of an importation of poliovirus. In September 2014, in order to ensure the children in Tunisia had the best possible immunity against polio, Tunisia added the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) to the national immunization schedule. Tunisia is not alone in their efforts. By the end of 2015, more than 100 other countries will also be taking this important step towards polio eradication.

Dr. Chris Murray from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation explains the amazing drop in child mortality since 2000 and how the Millennium Development Goals helped.

Linked to increasing immunisation coverage with vaccines such as the pentavalent, Madagascar is one of just six countries in the world to reduce its child mortality rates by more than 60% between 1990 and 2009. Video by GAVI.

Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus elimination from India. Reducing maternal and neonatal tetanus to less than one case per 1 000 live births in all 675 districts demonstrates India’s strong commitment and leadership that helped improve access to immunization, antenatal care services and skilled birth attendance in the most vulnerable populations – the poor, the remote and isolated communities.

India aims to immunize 27 million new children each year. This enormous effort depends on ensuring a consistent supply of vaccines, stored at recommended temperatures, right from the manufacturer down to the mother and child. In partnership with GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, UNDP is providing support to help the Government of India reach its goal through an innovative electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network (eVIN) that digitalizes entire vaccine stocks and tracks their movement. In this video, nurses in Jaipur, India discuss the positive impact eVIN has had on their everyday administrative duties.

Umit Kartoglu reviews temperature monitoring devices used in a typical vaccine cold chain and analyses how the readings relate to each other when there are more than one device at a particular point. This analysis is done from the VVM perspective.

Dr. Berkley describes how the work being done by Gavi--a public-private partnership aimed at promoting access to vaccines for children in the world's poorest countries--intersects with the goal of advancing UHC. JCIE/USA Executive Director Jim Gannon interviews him on the sidelines of a December 16, 2015 JCIE conference on “Universal Health Coverage in the New Development Era.”

obb Butler, Programme Manager for the Vaccine-preventable Diseases and Immunization Programme at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, visited Sarajevo on April 25, 2017 on the occasion of World Immunization Week and participated in the work of the Central Assembly, attended by more than 80 experts, representatives of health authorities and Professional immunization bodies. The interview answers some of the biggest concerns about immunization.

The world is closer than ever before to getting rid of polio for good. In March 2014, as part of a global effort to eradicate polio permanently, Albania added the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) to the national immunization schedule. Immunization experts describe how they convinced government officials of the need to add a new polio vaccine and how they communicated to parents why the new vaccine was being introduced.

Albania is not alone in their efforts. By the end of 2015, more than 100 other countries will also be taking this important step towards polio eradication.

Profile of PCV work in Kenya, pegged to new impact data, and showing the range of work that is being done to tackle pneumococcal disease in Kenya (focusing on the Wellcome Trust centre KEMRI at Kilifi).

Guinea was ground zero for the 2014 outbreak of Ebola virus, and health experts were concerned that other critical health issues such as routine care for maternal and child health, might suffer because of clinic closures or fears of contracting the virus. MEASURE Evaluation conducted a rapid assessment to understand better the effects of Ebola and published a journal article on the results, authored by Janine Barden O’Fallon, Alimou Barry, Paul Brodish, and Jack Hazerjian.

After five years of devastating conflict, Côte d’Ivoire’s immunisation rates are back to their pre-war levels. In this short film, originally played at the December 2016 Gavi Board meeting in Abidjan, Health Minister Dr Raymonde Goudou Coffie, explains her country’s rapid recovery.

IIS is an online immunization information system that can record child immunizations and manage vaccine stock. In 2011, the Albanian Institute of Public Health deployed IIS in the northern Albanian district of Shkoder. This short video shows how IIS works and examines the impact it has had in Albania.

VaxTrak is a logistics management information system designed to help immunization health workers keep track of vaccine stock as it is received and dispatched. In 2011, the Vietnamese National Expanded Programme on Immunization introduced VaxTrak in the provinces of Phu Tho, Quang Tri, and Ben Tre. This short video shows how VaxTrak works and examines the impact it has had.

Why do immunization information systems need to be improved?
Immunization information systems that exploit information and communications technology (ICT) have the potential to dramatically improve the performance of national immunization programs. This short video looks at why such systems are needed, how they work, and what impact they can have.

ccording to the life course approach to public health, your health today is the result of many different factors, including your previous life experiences and even those of your parents. Likewise, your health today will impact your health in the future, as well as the health of the future generations.

“What do you suggest to clinicians who want to improve how they recommend HPV vaccination for their pre-teen patients?” Dr. Alix Casler, FAAP, answers this question from her clinical experience in this segment of the video series, “How I Recommend HPV Vaccine.”

Is your clinic experiencing a utilization problem? We will consider some of the most common reasons for high drop-out rates – and their possible solutions.

This EPI training video provides knowledge and skills based on WHO guidance (for example, Mid-Level Manager and Immunization in Practice modules) to support routine immunization in the field. Find more at www.immunizationacademy.com.

Members of the pharmaceutical supply chain have various global requirements to meet during the storage, transport and handling of time and temperature-sensitive products. Changing product portfolios, requirements for good storage and distribution practices, regulatory expectations, quality management, and risk assessment factors bring many challenges to the handling of drug products. Rafik Bishara reviews the global perspectives in regulatory oversight on pharmaceutical time and temperature products.

In December 2010, a vaccine was introduced that could end a century of epidemics in Africa. Learn how the Meningitis Vaccine Project, a partnership between PATH and the World Health Organization, is bringing hope to a generation. For more on the first meningitis vaccine designed especially for Africa, see http://www.path.org/menafrivac/index.php.

ntroduced as part of the routine childhood immunization program. We spoke with scientists, advocates, and leaders in three countries—Nicaragua, Ghana, and Malawi—who helped pave the way for rotavirus vaccine introductions in low-income countries and continue to advocate for expanded access.

Women are on the frontlines of the battle to eradicate polio in Afghanistan, transforming the lives of children and women. Aisha is a social mobilizer in Kandahar in the south of the country, one of Afghanistan's most dangerous and conservative provinces.

Aminu Ahmad sits on the side of the road intently watching his young apprentice welding a wheelchair.

"This is our workshop and 80% of the people here have disabilities, but we are working hard, just like anybody else," he explains.

Aminu was crippled as child by polio, a preventable disease that affected millions of children each year.

"I asked my mother why I was disabled, and she told me I was not immunized'" says Aminu.

While Aminu trains and employs young people affected by polio, and his best selling product is an innovative wheel chair, his real aim is to protect future generations from the disease.

Aminu is part of The Global Polio Eradication Initiative. This a public-private partnership led by national governments and spearheaded by the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that has reduced new infections by 99% since 1988. Now the disease is endemic in just 4 countries; Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria.

Dr Chris Maher, Manager, Polio Education and Emergency Support at WHO-EMRO, was interviewed on 7th of October 2015 during "EMRO Health +SocialGood" a webcast held in Kuwait City at the Regional Committee meeting for the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO) of the World Health Organization.

The Regional Committee brought together the foremost health experts to discuss the latest public health issues and how to continue to strengthen health services in the region. EMRO Health +SocialGood provided insight into some of the major public health emergencies happening in the region, and original content and interactive conversations with experts attending this meeting.

Rotavirus still kills over 200,000 children each year, but even non-fatal cases can have a dramatic impact on families due to the economic burden of treating the disease. Parents like Jacqueline, a mother from Malawi, often lose substantial amounts of their income due to treatment costs and missed work while their children are hospitalized for rotavirus. By preventing infection and the related expenses, cost-effective rotavirus vaccines can help strengthen economies in communities around the world.

On 26 April 2012, during World Immunization Week, mothers and babies, doctors and nurses, tribal elders and supporters from all over the world, came together in Independence Square, Accra, to celebrate the launch of two new vacci

As part of our Haiti series, a mother named Gabriel shares why she never misses an immunization appointment, and why she believes it is every parent's responsibility to give their children vaccines for the well-being of every child.

As part of our Haiti series, a mother named Anne shares why she vaccinates her child and is thankful for the immunization education at her local health center in Marigot, Haiti.

ot every girl goes to school everyday in Liberia, West Africa. So if you want to improve coverage of the HPV vaccination in ten year old girls, sometimes you have to take it to the streets.

This 3.5-minute video offers a preview of how lessons learnt from these countries can provide critical information for policymakers and programme planners on how best to prepare, deliver, and sustain HPV vaccines.

Quality data is essential to running an effective immunization program. Learn about the Data Quality Self-Assessment tool which will help you ask the right questions at the district and health facility level to determine the accuracy and quality of your monitoring.

This EPI training video provides knowledge and skills based on WHO guidance (for example, Mid-Level Manager and Immunization in Practice modules) to support routine immunization in the field. Find more at www.immunizationacademy.com.

Adam Finn describes how vaccines work and why we all have a role in ensuring that they are effective. Recorded at TEDMEDLive Bristol April 2013.

In our new video series, “Take 2,” faculty and researchers from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health provide the lowdown on a compelling, engaging question in global health–think of it as Public Health 101. In this video, Marie McCormick, Sumner and Esther Feldberg Professor of Maternal and Child Health in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, talks about why vaccines are critical for public health.