Vaccines Experience Exchange Meetings

Keprecon in collaboration with Ministry of Health through Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and Network for Education and Support in Immunisation (NESI) held three international immunization experience exchange meetings – November 2012, December 2014 and March 2016.

The first meeting was held in November 2012 to exchange information on new vaccines in the market, review issues of logistics around vaccine introduction and preparedness, and foster linkages between vaccinology stakeholders in the African region. The second experience exchange meeting was held in December 2014. The meeting focused on challenges faced by immunization programs in the African region and how best to deal with them.

The outcome of the meeting was renewed focus on advocacy engagement to increase uptake of vaccination and scaling up the role of paediatricians in making the value of vaccination known to parents and caregivers. The third meeting was held in March 2016 attended by delegates from Eastern and Southern Africa countries. The meeting promoted effective introduction of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination in the African region, created a multi-disciplinary team of experts to advocate for the HPV vaccine introduction, and increased synergy between academics, educators and Ministries of Health to revive and strengthen school-based health programmes as delivery platform for adolescent immunisation services.