WHO GLOBAL MEETING ON IMPLEMENTING NEW AND UNDER-UTILIZED VACCINES
[30/06/2011 from Hemanthi Dassanayake-Nicolas, WHO HQ; GIN, June 2011]
The fifth WHO Global Meeting on Implementing New and Under-utilized Vaccines was organized by WHO/HQ and held in Montreux, Switzerland from 22-24 June 2011 with over 125 participants including representatives from Ministries of Health from 18 countries, WHO, UNICEF (HQ, Regional and Country offices), partner agencies including AMP, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, CDC, Clinton Health Access Initiative, GAVI Secretariat, JSI (MCHIP), NORAD, PATH, Sabin Institute, SIVAC, and USAID, as well
as participants from universities, NGOs, manufacturers, and independent consultants.
The overall theme of the NUVI meeting was “Sustaining the gains of new vaccine introduction” with the objectives to review and discuss key issues in new and under-utilized vaccine introduction among immunization partners, regions and countries. The meeting had plenary sessions to discuss the progress with the Global NUVI Plan of Action, updates from GAVI on NUVI Financing, and lessons learned from new vaccines introduction to date The meeting also hosted six workshops on the following areas: Prioritization of vaccines at the country level; Communication for NUVI; Vaccine Supply & Pricing; Delivery Strategies for Typhoid, JE, Rubella and HPV vaccines; Immunization Schedules; and Human Resources for Immunization. The main priorities to be undertaken by the different partner institutions in the coming year were identified, the main ones being to continue to support fully informed decision making on the introduction of new vaccines, and the theme conclusion being to further work towards
government ownership of the national immunization programme, to engage in strengthening routine immunization, to work on demand creation and community engagement, to maintain the momentum with donors and focus on critical messages that “we can deliver”, and that further support be provided to vaccine introduction in lower middle-income countries.
vaccines and global health :: ethics and policy 