Tag: UNICEF
Investment in digital health needs careful planning: new WHO guide explains how to do it well
Oct 15, 2020
With the right approach and effective investment, digital health interventions can be successful long-term solutions that help to improve the health and well-being of the people they were designed to reach. A new guide has been launched by WHO to help ensure that digital health investments are effective, sustainable, and equitable – and that they are implemented in a coordinated way and appropriate for the local context. The Digital Implementation Investment Guide has been published by WHO and HRP in collaboration with PATH, UNICEF, and UNFPA.
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Zambia’s Ministry of Health collaborates with BID and others to strengthen immunization system
Jan 9, 2020
The Zambian Ministry of Health (MOH) is taking an innovative, new direction to close the country’s immunization gap with a new partnership that touches every component of the immunization system. The EPI Optimization (EPI-OPT) strategy brings together a consortium of technical experts and partners working collaboratively with the government to improve coverage rates.
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In Zambia, BID partners with UNICEF to reach more children with life-saving vaccines
May 9, 2019
Partnership is at the core of the BID Initiative’s success. In an effort to reach more children with life-saving vaccines, BID has partnered with UNICEF in Zambia to integrate two highly effective immunization platforms – the Zambia Electronic Immunization Registry (ZEIR) and mVacc, a UNICEF-supported mobile vaccination initiative that aims to increase awareness, improve access, and sustain use of immunization services through an SMS-based platform.
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New immunization data reveals state of the field and the important role of data in vaccination
Aug 24, 2018
Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) released new immunization data from 2017 that reveals global progress toward immunization targets, and where countries and stakeholders are still falling short. Nine in 10 infants were vaccinated last year, or 123 million babies worldwide. But since 2015, the percentage of children around the world who have received the full three-dose course of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3), has leveled out at 85 percent. DTP3 is a key indicator of immunization program performance.
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New efforts to improve immunization data quality and use
Jan 4, 2018
As the BID Initiative initial grant comes to a close, we have been exploring ways to leverage our current learnings and further explore knowledge gaps around data use. PATH was recently awarded a grant in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to do just this.
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Annual report indicates better data, but stagnating vaccination rates
Aug 4, 2017
Childhood immunization is one of the best investments a country can make. The world has made great strides in recent years, and we are closer to ensuring that no child is left unreached by lifesaving vaccines. But despite this progress, coverage has stagnated globally, and one in ten infants worldwide don’t receive a single vaccine. Each year, the WHO and UNICEF release an annual report that estimates global immunization coverage. The report offers a snapshot of the world’s progress toward achieving the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP).
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Immunization by the Numbers
Apr 29, 2015
We know routine immunizations and new vaccine introductions are proven to be two of the best investments for improving health around the world, but still, children lack access to this potentially life-saving intervention. As we celebrate World Immunization Week with stories from both our demonstration countries, Zambia and Tanzania, we’re also giving pause to take a look at immunization numbers around the world.
Read MoreOpportunities for Home-Based Immunization Records
Apr 9, 2015
The BID Initiative is on the brink of implementing a national electronic immunization system in Tanzania while countries yet to implement such a system often turn to home-based records for immunization programs. With scarce public health resources and the need for accurate data on immunization coverage, home-based records can be an effective way to track if children are receiving the vaccines they need. However, is there a need for a more durable, coordinated system for home-based records?
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Aligning with Partners on Health Data Quality and Use
Mar 17, 2015
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a meeting in Geneva sponsored by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to discuss their new data quality and survey requirements for countries. While the meeting focused on the communication of these requirements to countries and how to support them to meet them, the topic of how to address the overall need to improve data quality and data use (and not merely assessing it at the country level) was also continually highlighted. How can countries know their data quality and then create plans to improve it?
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The Importance of Data in the Ebola Outbreak
Oct 15, 2014
As health workers attempt to tackle the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, access to reliable data is becoming increasingly important. With the Better Immunization Data (BID) Initiative, we focus on solutions in immunization that can be applied to other health interventions, enabling healthcare workers to properly collect data and creating a data-use culture at the local level. Using data to inform decisions and identify trends can be a powerful tool in helping to prevent outbreaks from spreading and devastating healthcare systems as we have seen with Ebola.
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