A liquid pentavalent vaccine containing DTwP-HepB-Hib was incorporated in the Universal Immunization Program of India with the funding from Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). India introduced pentavalent vaccine in two states namely, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in 2011. The combination vaccine offers simplification of immunization schedule, reduced cost, better acceptance and l...

ABOUT THE AUTHORS: C. Wiysonge is a medical epidemiologist and Vaccinology Programme Manager at the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa. He previously worked for the Expanded Programme on Immunisation in Cameroon and has been a consultant on vaccines and immunisation for WHO and the GAVI Alliance. Z. Waggie is a Paediatrician and Senior ...

Background Military conflict has been an ongoing determinant of inequitable immunisation coverage in many low- and middle-income countries, yet the impact of conflict on the attainment of global health goals has not been fully addressed. This review will describe and analyse the association between conflict, immunisation coverage and vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) outbreaks, along with...

From 2012 to 2016, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, provided support for countries to conduct small-scale demonstration projects for the introduction of the human papillomavirus vaccine, with the aim of determining which human papillomavirus vaccine delivery strategies might be effective and sustainable upon national scale-up. This study reports on the operational costs and cost determinants of diff...

Vaccination against childhood communicable diseases through the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions available (UNICEF 2002; World Bank 1993). By reducing mortality and morbidity, vaccination can contribute substantially to achieving the Millennium Development Goal of reducing the mortality rate among children under five by two-thi...

This paper explores the influence of private philanthropic foundations in the governance of global health. Such foundations, including Rockefeller and Ford, have historically played an important role in infectious disease control, providing seed finance to develop vaccines (e.g. yellow fever) and subsidies for the eradication of certain parasites (e.g. hookworm). More recently these actors have...