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.”