Immunization resources

Immunization financing

Information on financing issues related to global immunization. Our featured resources give you quick access to some of the most up-to-date and essential information on immunization financing issues.

Featured resources

The cost of immunization programmes in the next 10 years (2006)
World Health Organization (WHO)
This paper summarizes the results of a WHO/UNICEF study on the potential impact of immunization over the next decade and the financing required for immunization activities in the 72 poorest countries of the world.

Estimating the costs of acheiving the WHO-UNICEF Global Immunization Vision and Strategy, 2006 - 2015 (2008)
Wolfson LJ, et al. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2008 Jan;86(1):27-39.
This paper estimates the costs of acheiving the Global Immunization Vision and Strategy, 2006 - 2015, which aims to immunize more people, from infants to seniors, with a greater range of vaccines, and whose chief goal is to, by 2015 or earlier, reduce illness and death due to vaccine-preventable diseases by at least two thirds compared to 2000 levels.

Guidelines for developing a comprehensive multi-year plan (cMYP) (2006)
WHO/UNICEF
This document outlines the steps and process involved with developing a comprehensive multi-year plan for national immunization programs.

Guidelines for estimating costs of introducing new vaccines into the national immunization system (2002)
WHO
Targeted at immunization service managers, logisticians, policymakers, researchers, international donors, and health planners in developing countries, these WHO guidelines outline a stepped approach for estimating the incremental costs of introducing new vaccines into routine immunization services.

Immunization financing options: A resource for policymakers (2002)
World Bank, GAVI Alliance
These user-friendly briefing sheets, intended for policymakers in Ministries of Health, Finance, Planning and Investment, outline options for financing national immunization services.

Innovative financing for human development (2006)
Affolder R, Lob-Levyt J. Lancet; 367: 885–887.
In this commentary, the authors encourage support for creative approaches to financing global health initiatives, including a 2006 airline tax adopted by France, advance market commitments for new vaccines, and the establishment of the International Finance Facility.

Procedures for assessing the acceptability of vaccines for purchase by United Nations agencies (2006)
WHO
This document outlines procedures to assess the acceptability of vaccines in order to verify that they meet the specifications of the relevant UN agency for procurement and that they are produced in accordance with the principles and specifications recommended by WHO.

General immunization financing resources

Advance Market Commitments
GAVI and The World Bank
This website is a resource on Advance Market Commitments, an innovative finacing mechanism, as well as the pilot AMC for pneumococcal disease.

Advance Market Commitments for vaccines (2006)
WHO
This informative fact sheet provides a definition of Advance Market Commitments, or AMCs, as a potential financing mechanism for bringing new vaccines to the developing world and also outlines WHO's position on them.

Case study on the costs and financing of immunization services in Ghana (2001)
Levin A, England S, Jorissen J, Garshong B, Teprey J. Partners for Health Reform Plus (PHRplus)
This study estimates the current and future costs of Ghana's immunization program, including the additional costs proposed for improvements to the program, both to assist planning and to inform the international community about global immunization costs.

Case study on the costs and financing of immunization services in Morocco (1999)
Kaddar M, Mookherji S, DeRoeck D, Antona D. PHRplus
PHRplus, in collaboration with WHO and the Morrocan Ministry of Health, conducted an in-depth study of the costs and financing of immunization, and their report offers options in the areas of program planning, management, evaluation, research, vaccine procurement and supply, and financing structures for improving the financial sustainability of Morocco’s immunization program.

Developing country manufacturers and sustainability of vaccine supply (2006)
WHO
This paper outlines the role of developing country vaccine manufacturers in global efforts to increase access to vaccines.

Dispensing hope: Bill Gates' global health gamble (2001)
Paulson T. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
This fascinating special report focuses on the immunization and health-related initiatives supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the reasons for choosing these programs.

Economics of immunization: A guide to the literature and other resources (2004)
WHO, US Agency for International Development (USAID), PHRplus
This 87-page document identifies literature and web resources on costing, cost-benefit analyses, financing, and policy among other issues.

The evidence base for interventions to reduce mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases in low and middle-income countries (2001)
England S, et al. World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Macroeconomics and Health
This 102-page paper is a synthesis of evidence on vaccine-preventable burden of disease, efficacy, cost-effectiveness, and the potential to scale up immunization. It is also a collection of lessons learned.

Expanded program on immunization in Bangladesh: Cost, cost-effectiveness, and financing estimates (1998)
Khan M, Yoder R. PHRplus
A review of immunization programs in Bangladesh evaluated costs, cost-effectiveness and financing issues, and the investigators found the EPI program to be relatively cost-effective. The authors suggest that one way to generate savings in the entire health sector is to reduce the needs in the curative sector by reducing its demand, an impact that can be made with a successful immunization program.

Financing assessment tool for immunization services: Guidelines for performing a country assessment (2000)
Kaddar M, Makinen M, Khan M. PHRplus
This Immunization Financing (IF) tool is intended for in-depth, systematic evaluations of the costs and financing of immunization programs. The IF tool offers a checklist and tables that guide the user through information gathering, estimating current costs, and financing and developing a 5-year plan.

Immunization financing
WHO
This website provides an overview of immunization financing issues, with links to relevant documents.

Immunization financing through the GAVI Alliance (2006)
WHO
An overview of immunization support to developing countries provided through the GAVI Alliance.

The International Finance Facility for Immunization (IFFIm) (2006)
WHO
General information on the function and objectives of IFFIm, a new funding mechanism that secures pledges of future aid in order to leverage money from international capital markets to support national immunization programmes.

Introduction and sustainable use of vaccines in developing countries (2006)
Sabin Vaccine Institute
This report summarizes discussions and recommendations from a key meeting of global health experts addressing critical issues in vaccine financing for developing countries, the evaluation of new vaccine introduction, and the sustainability of improvements to national immunization programs.

A model for analyzing strategic use of government financing to improve health care provision. (1999)
Berman P, Chawla M. PHRplus
This paper evaluates public and private provision of health care services in low- and middle-income developing countries through a framework intended to help governments analyze the costs and benefits of different health care financing and provision scenarios.

Poverty reduction and immunizations: Considering immunizations in the context of debt relief for poor countries (2000)
Fairbank A, Makinen M, Schott W, Sakagawa B. Abt Associates, Inc.
This 16-page paper was written to help analysts, stakeholders, and decision-makers give full consideration to including immunizations as a major element of poverty reduction strategies developed in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) II debt relief process.

Review of financing of immunization programs in developing and transitional countries (1998)
DeRoeck D, Levin A. PHRplus
This report analyzes available information on financing immunization programs in developing countries, and focuses cost implications of new vaccine introduction, government and donor funding trends, health sector development, and country experiences with international funding mechanisms.

Vaccines for children: Supply at risk (2002)
UNICEF
This important UNICEF report warns of vaccine shortages serious enough to jeopardize immunization programs for children throughout the world.