R4D’s study on the Constraints to Vaccine Adoption in Lower and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) is highlighted in the January 2011 edition of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Global Immunization Newsletter. The Global Immunization Newsletter is a monthly publication that provides a comprehensive view of immunization worldwide.

The read the full newsletter click here.

R4D’s study was conceived in response to a growing recognition on the part of the WHO that LMICs receive little support for their vaccination programs, despite having a heavy burden of disease and accounting for a large share of the world’s poor.

The R4D study is highlighted in an article titled “Study of New Vaccine Adoption by Lower-Middle Income Countries (LMICs)” (page 6) that provides a summary of the study’s recommendations under information and capacity building, financing, legal aspects and political commitment, and procurement. In this article, as well as one on the WHO’s November 2010 Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) meeting, the newsletter outlines the study’s success in receiving an unsolicited endorsement of its key recommendations. In particular, the SAGE encouraged the WHO to allocate more resources to support LMICs.

This endorsement, as well as the study’s finding that price and pricing are one of the top factors influencing vaccine decision-making, led to the Vaccine Price and Pricing Information Meeting, convened by the WHO on Jan. 25, on issues of vaccine prices and price transparency. This meeting included many stakeholders and country representatives, including the study director, R4D Managing Director Marty Makinen.