5th International Roundtable on China-Africa Health Collaboration

Beijing, 26th – 28th March 2015

All children must be immunized to reach their full potential for survival and development

Immunization saves 2-3 million lives each year worldwide. By protecting children against fatal diseases, vaccines keep them alive and healthy. Immunization is one of the most successful and cost-effective public health investments we can make for future generations. All children, no matter where they live or their circumstances, have the right to survive and to thrive – and we each have the responsibility to help them realize that right.

Immunization programs worldwide have made tremendous progress in reducing under-five mortality and achieving the Millennium Development Goals by expanding coverage and rapidly introducing an array of new and under-used vaccines. Yet immunization supply and logistics systems have not kept pace with new vaccine introductions, expanded service delivery packages, and growing target populations and weak health systems have compromised the impact of recent investments in immunization programs.

Vaccines are protecting more children than ever before, but in 2012, 22.6 million children – nearly one in five infants –are not fully immunized. Low immunization levels compromise gains made in all other areas of maternal and child health. The poorest, most vulnerable children continue to be excluded despite needing immunization the most.

Recognizing this problem, the World Health Organization’s Immunization Practices and Advisory Committee (IPAC) unanimously endorsed a call-to-action[1] in March 2014 targeting both national immunization programs and global immunization partners. The call-to-action requests that:

  • National immunization programs measure, monitor, and invest in their immunization supply and logistics systems and systematically plan and implement improvements.
  • Global partners, including China, increase awareness and support for immunization supply chain and logistics systems by investing in the vital elements of all national immunization programs, including cold chain equipment, human capital, and data.

Many of the world’s un- and under-immunized children are in Africa, where higher-than-necessary rates of under-five morbidity and mortality have slowed the achievement of the MDGs and will also affect the subsequent SDGs.

None of the assessed countries in Africa has a supply and logistics system that meets the minimum performance criteria set by the WHO (figure 5).[2] Underperforming logistics systems can accidentally expose vaccines to extreme temperatures, fail to deliver vaccines where they are needed, compromise the quality of vaccines, limit access to immunization, and slow global efforts to introduce new, life-saving vaccines.Aligned with the IPAC call-to-action, China and its partners in Africa should commit to strengthening Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and alleviate major bottlenecks to immunization coverage and equity by committing resources and attention to repair and strengthen immunization supply and logistics systems, and where possible, integrate immunization supply and logistics with that of other health commodities.


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BACKGROUND ON IMMUNIZATION

Figure 1. Tremendous progress has been made to increase immunization coverage worldwide.

Figure 2. New vaccines have been introduced all over the world, including all countries in Africa

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Figure 3. African countries have had to overcome some of the most challenging obstacles to achieve immunization coverage targets

Figure 4. Most of the world's un- and under-immunized children are in Africa

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[1]IPAC call to action can be downloaded from:

[2]Effective Vaccine Management assessments have been conducted in over 30 countries in Africa and no country meets the minimum performance standard of 80% at all levels and in all measures.