The Challenge
Immunization is one of the best buys in health. While the world has made great progress in increasing immunization coverage and introducing new vaccines in the poorest countries, challenges remain. One in five children in Africa does not have access to basic vaccines, and just five percent of the world’s children receive all 11 vaccines recommended by WHO. Financing is a critical bottleneck to expanding coverage and introducing new vaccines. To realize the benefits of immunization, governments must find sustainable sources of financing from their own budgets, or combine their own resources with external support.
The Opportunity
With the right resources, governments and immunization advocates can help increase access to and funding for vaccines. In 2010, the World Bank and the Gavi Alliance produced the Immunization Financing Toolkit: A Resource for Policy-Makers and Program Managers. Several important trends have emerged in the past seven years necessitating a new, up-to-date guide. These trends include:
- New vaccines, new opportunities: The number of new, lifesaving vaccines has continued to expand, offering unprecedented opportunities to countries but also requiring increased financing.
- More countries transitioning from Gavi support: Gavi has revised its eligibility, co-financing, and transition policies. Many countries with economic growth are now in the process of transitioning from Gavi support and must quickly scale up domestic financing for immunization in order to sustain progress.
- Country commitments both to immunization and universal health coverage (UHC): Countries and the international community have made important new commitments to immunization and immunization financing. Countries have also made historic commitments to achieving UHC, to which immunization financing needs to be aligned.
Our Work
R4D produced and launched Immunization Financing: A Resource Guide for Advocates, Policymakers, and Program Managers on February 21, 2017. The guide provides information and analysis to help advocates, policymakers, and program managers assess different financing options, approaches to strategic purchasing, and strategies for policy change. It comprises 26 briefs, with eight country case studies, and is intended for both Gavi and non-Gavi eligible countries.
To produce the new guide, R4D conducted a needs assessment among partners to determine which elements of the 2010 toolkit had been most useful, which needed updating, and which new delivery platforms could ensure the best reach to intended audiences. R4D conducted research and expert interviews in order to prepare briefs on immunization fundamentals, sources of financing, strategies for purchasing, avenues for policy change, and country case studies.
The guide is available online at: www.immunizationfinancing.org. A French translation of the guide will be available in March/April 2017. Throughout 2017, R4D will be working with partners in the dissemination of the resource guide, ensuring trainings and presentations on the guide are accessible to a broad array of stakeholders.
