Pressroom

Source: Infection Control Today

05/28/2012

A Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP) was endorsed by health ministers from 194 countries at the recent 65th World Health Assembly. The group Decades of Vaccines Collaboration coordinated the GVAP as a means of saving millions of lives through vaccination by 2020, going beyond the targets of the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 4. The four goals of the GVAP are to meet vaccine coverage targets by improving routine immunization; better control vaccine-preventable diseases, first by eradicating polio; roll out new and improved vaccines; and research and develop new vaccines and technologies. “The plan promotes greater coordination and synergies between immunization and other child, adolescent and reproductive health interventions leading to healthier communities everywhere,” says Dr. Flavia Bustreo of the World Health Organization. The GVAP now must be readied for regional- and country-level implementation, a monitoring and evaluation framework must be created, and both funding needs and potential cost savings must be calculated.