Routine vaccinations offer children protection from life-threatening diseases, and the progress in vaccination coverage over the past 20 years has had substantial impact on child survival. Yet, the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted routine immunization worldwide. For instance, as of 2021, 18 million children have not received a single dose of diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccine — up from 13 million in 2019. These zero-dose children account for nearly half of all vaccine-preventable deaths and so global and national efforts are focusing on reaching them with vaccine services.
FHI 360 is collaborating with ministries of health to improve and strengthen their Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) programs, develop specific strategies to identify and reach zero-dose children, and identify innovative approaches to increase child immunization rates.
With funding from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, FHI 360 is conducting a retrospective synthesis of evidence and case studies on pro-equity interventions to learn how to reach zero-dose children in Gavi-supported countries. Lessons learned will also be applied to FHI 360 programs that are supporting EPI programs.
Through the Alcançar project in Mozambique and the Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition Activity in Uganda, FHI 360 works with ministries of health to strengthen the capacity of EPI programs, including provider capacity; improve the implementation of the reaching every child approach; conduct formative research to identify barriers to immunization; and increase coverage to reach zero-dose children.
FHI 360 currently serves as a member of the Secretariat of the Maternal, Infant and Youth Child Nutrition – Family Planning – Immunization Integration Community of Practice, which works to improve the quality and increase the convenience of comprehensive care for women and their infants and young children.
