Globally, immunization prevents three million child deaths each year, and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 20% of the remaining under-five deaths—approximately two million deaths annually—could be prevented with existing vaccines. Success in reducing vaccine-preventable mortality has been dramatic, but it cannot be taken for granted.

For example, one million newborns died of tetanus 30 years ago compared to about 130,000 last year—an 87% reduction. However, this achievement must be maintained and built upon every year to further lower neonatal mortality from tetanus. And, while vaccination coverage in some countries now exceeds 80%, coverage is not the only metric. Before they are exposed to disease, women and newborns must be reached by both potent vaccines and high-quality services in a timely, safe, effective, acceptable and affordable manner so that they return to complete all their doses.

Coverage disparities also continue within countries, with few countries reaching 80% or higher coverage in all districts. To prevent outbreaks, consistently high coverage is needed everywhere, year after year. Increasingly, vaccination programs are aiming to reach the hard-to-reach and marginalized groups to improve access and equity.

MCHIP Immunization Programs
MCHIP is dedicated to ensuring that every infant and woman of childbearing age in the developing world is fully immunized. Working with global, regional, national and sub-national partners, MCHIP:

• Provides practical, field-oriented, technical analysis and support; 
• Shares information and best practices in the field of immunization with countries and partners; and 
• Aims to strengthen health systems by building local capacity to offer effective and sustainable vaccination services.

MCHIP provides technical support to routine immunization (RI) systems to sustain mortality reduction gains achieved through campaigns and to serve as a platform for effective introduction of new, lifesaving vaccines.

Immunization program priorities include:

• Strengthening RI services at national and sub-national levels to identify and reach the unreached in selected countries. MCHIP works with countries to identify and prioritize under-immunized populations and operationalize the Reaching Every District (RED) approach.
• Providing technical support to countries as they prepare for the introduction of new, lifesaving vaccines. This includes assisting them with introduction plans, applications to the GAVI Alliance, preparations for and the phasing of vaccine introduction, and monitoring and post-introduction evaluation.
• Supporting vaccine-preventable disease interventions, including polio eradication and measles mortality reduction. Success in sustaining disease control or eradication requires matched efforts in RI, which is MCHIP’s niche. The Program provides technical support to leverage single-disease initiatives so that they can strengthen RI. 
• Exploring how best to link immunization services with the delivery of other interventions and with shared program functions such as monitoring and evaluation.
• Assisting a number of countries in customizing strategies that build upon the existing immunization outreach platform to deliver multiple interventions at scale.
• Providing technical support based on field experience to global and regional partners to formulate immunization policies, design delivery strategies, and identify investment opportunities.
• Preparing and responding to pandemic H1N1 influenza. From 2009–2010, MCHIP provided complementary technical assistance to WHO’s response to pandemic H1N1 influenza. This included assistance to countries in operationalizing, customizing and monitoring their vaccination programs in light of WHO policy and guidelines, and within a continually evolving environment.

MCHIP works closely with international organizations and links its country programming to important global and regional initiatives, such as the GAVI Alliance, the WHO/UNICEF Global Immunization Vision and Strategy (GIVS), the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, the Measles Initiative, and others.

Click here to read more about MCHIP work in immunization. And for a complete list of related publications, click here.