Costing and financing analyses of routine immunization in Uganda

In Uganda and other countries, accurate data on the costs of immunization with routine and new vaccines is needed to improve country level planning and financing for immunization, as well as to provide evidence to inform domestic and external resource mobilization. More specifically, enhanced cost information is required for better use of the comprehensive multi-year plan (cMYP), and the cMYP tool, which are used to plan and budget for the national immunization program, including estimates for the routine program, campaigns, and new vaccines. The importance of information on costs and financial flows is increased by the

introduction of high cost new vaccines. However, the number of studies examining routine immunization program costs and financing has fallen in recent years. Furthermore, the methodologies of various costing studies have often differed, making it more difficult to compare or apply results more widely. There has been a general assumption that unit costs for conventional immunization have been reduced due to lower vaccine costs, but this and other cost related assumptions need to be validated. This study formed part of the multi-country EPIC initiative, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GAVI and WHO. The EPIC studies aim to develop updated estimates of routine immunization program costs in six pilot countries, map their funding flows, cost introduction of new vaccines, and develop standardized methodologies to produce comparable results