Global immunisation monitoring in times of drastic cutbacks

Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases are increasing at a time when funding for immunisation programmes is being cut.1 The full impact of the cutbacks might remain hidden, as long-established surveillance and monitoring systems to detect outbreaks and measure immunisation coverage are simultaneously being dismantled.

 

The funding cuts to countries, UN agencies, and others not only threaten the provision of life-saving vaccines for millions of people, but also long-standing and trusted systems for vaccine-preventable disease surveillance and immunisation coverage monitoring. Disease surveillance and monitoring systems are crucial to the success of any immunisation programme.

 

In many countries, disruptions are already affecting key information systems, including collaborative surveillance and emergency systems, health management information systems, disease-specific reporting systems, laboratory information systems, and household and population surveys.2 For example, the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) programme, funded by the US Agency for International Development, has been paused after more than 40 years of operation. The DHS programme enabled over 400 household surveys across 90 countries, providing crucial data on childhood immunisation coverage and other health indicators. Similarly, the Global Measles and Rubella Laboratory Network,3 which includes more than 700 laboratories in over 160 countries, faces existential funding problems at a time when measles cases, in some regions, are at their highest in over 25 years.4 The disruptions to this network will jeopardise progress towards measles elimination worldwide.