Archive - U.S. Agency for International Development

Immunization

Speeches Shim

At the Women and Children Welfare Hospital in Sokoto, Nigeria, women bring their children to be vaccinated.

Photo: Karen Kasmauski/MCSP

Every year, 1.5 million people, including over 600,000 children under the age of five, die from vaccine-preventable diseases.¹

Each year, 19 million infants worldwide—including 12.2 million infants in USAID's 25 priority countries for maternal and child survival—are not reached with basic vaccinations.² USAID works to fill the gap to ensure no child is left behind by increasing coverage of life-saving vaccines for hard to reach populations.

For every dollar invested in immunizations, a $16 return on investment is generated from saved costs of treating illness.³

Immunization saves 2 to 3 million lives annually and is one of the most cost-effective public health interventions to stop the spread of preventable infectious diseases. USAID supports countries to develop sound immunization policies, strategies, and guidelines to ensure greater country ownership of routine immunization programs. Our investments ensure that vaccines reach every child and continue to be delivered long after our support ends. Our support for immunization not only contributes to our global health objectives, but also to the full range of USAID’s development objectives, from promoting economic growth and trade to strengthening national security and supporting the resilience and self-reliance of our partner countries.

USAID partners with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to bring public and private sectors together and expand access to and utilization of life-saving vaccines in 73 low-income countries.⁴ Our long standing partnership with Gavi shows our commitment to reducing the spread of vaccine preventable infectious diseases, protecting child lives, and helping countries on their Journey to Self-Reliance. USAID also supports polio eradication activities through the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). Our approach to polio eradication emphasizes engagement with local and international non-governmental organizations, with a particular focus on hard-to-reach populations, disease surveillance, and outbreak response.

In USAID priority countries, children reached with the third dose of DPT (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus vaccine), an indicator often used to measure the strength of the routine immunization system, increased from an average of 71 percent in 2008 to 82 percent in 2018. Photo Credit: Kate Holt/MCSP
Since 2000, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, with support from USAID, has reached more than 760 million children and saved 13 million lives.

USAID’s support to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance brings together the public and private sectors to expand access to new and underutilized vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. Since its launch in 2000, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, with support from USAID, has contributed to reducing deaths from vaccine preventable diseases by 70 percent across 73 countries, and saved the lives of more than 13 million people. Photo Credit: Karen Kasmauski/MCSP
In Ethiopia, USAID reached more than 925,000 children with polio vaccinations and 15,000 newborns with critical vaccinations.

With programs that link pregnancy and birth registration with newborn-tracking systems, USAID was able to reach thousands of additional newborns in Ethiopia that were missed with initial vaccination. Photo Credit: Amy Fowler/USAID
The Government of Uganda, in partnership with USAID, developed the first-ever national immunization policy in 2018, which is improving the quality and reach of immunization nationwide. Photo Credit: Amy Fowler/USAID
In 2018, USAID vaccinated 76,000 children in Haiti through a network of health institutions and faith-based organizations.

By leveraging public-private partnerships, USAID worked with 164 health institutions and 20 faith-based organizations that provide primary care to scale up vaccination in Haiti to reach thousands of children with critical vaccines. Photo Credit: Karen Kasmauski/MCSP and Jhpiego