Resources

This report documents a partnership in Rwanda to support infrastructure and systems development to ensure the safe handling, treatment, and final disposal of infectious medical waste.

In areas such as Southeast Asia with a high incidence of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B, WHO recommends a birth dose of the vaccine for all children. Hepatitis B vaccine is typically kept refrigerated, within the cold chain. This fact sheet reports on an effort by PATH and Vietnam's National Expanded Program on Immunization to increase coverage rates for the vaccine in Thanh Hoa Province through a new strategy?storing the vaccine outside of the cold chain and using vaccine vial monitors to confirm that the vaccine continued to confer effective protection.

PATH and Vietnam's National Expanded Program on Immunization pilot tested the use of a needle-remover device in rural Vietnam. This fact sheet reports on health workers' experience that needle removers were easy to operate, safe, and effective for treating contaminated syringes at health centers and in the community.

PATH, in close partnership with Vietnam's National Expanded Program on Immunization (NEPI), has worked to increase the quality, safety, and efficiency of immunization services through the Iris Project. This fact sheet describes the project's process of testing province-wide systems improvements, identifying best practices, and encouraging other provinces to adopt the improvements. Work included updating and improving policies, training staff, and increasing community knowledge and demand for vaccination, particularly through technical updates, training of trainers, an introduction to supportive supervision, an out-of-the-cold-chain study, and an injection safety project with needle removers.

PATH and the Vietnam Ministry of Health implemented a six-month demonstration project in Huong Khe District, Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam, to assess the acceptability, performance, and impact on waste disposal of a manual needle remover introduced at commune health centers. The results of this demonstration project will enable the Vietnam National Immunization Program to explore alternative methods that may be more effective and appropriate than current practices for managing medical waste at the commune level. This report provides background, methodology, results, discussion, and references associated with an evaluation of the project.