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CSU 173/2011: GOOD GOVERNANCE AND NEW VACCINE INTRODUCTION

Tuesday, 10th of May 2011 Print

 I found this article the same week that I read about Merck's donation of HPV vaccine to Rwanda, the first country in central Africa to introduce HPV on a nationwide scale. Rwanda was also the first country in central Africa to introduce pneumococcal vaccine. This is a hypothesis with legs.

 ‘[G]ood country-level governance is an imperative pre-requisite for the successful early introduction of new vaccines into poor African nations.’

Abstract below; full text, with figures, is at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0013802

Good reading.

BD

 

Factors Affecting the Introduction of New Vaccines in Poor Countries

 

Abstract

 

Background: A major effort to introduce new vaccines into poor nations of the world was initiated in recent years with the help of the GAVI alliance. The first vaccines introduced have been the Haemophilus influenzae type B (Hib) and the hepatitis

B (Hep B) vaccines. The introduction of these vaccines during the first phase of GAVI’s operations demonstrated considerable variability. We set out to study the factors affecting the introduction of these vaccines. The African Region

(AFRO), where new vaccines were introduced to a substantial number of countries during the first phase of GAVI’s funding, was selected for this study.

 

Methodology/Principal Findings: GAVI-eligible AFRO countries with a population of 0.5 million or more were included in the study. Countries were analyzed and compared for new vaccine introduction, healthcare indicators, financial indicators

related to healthcare and country-level Governance Indicators, using One Way ANOVA, correlation analysis and Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). Introduction of new vaccines into AFRO nations was associated primarily with high country level Governance Indicator scores. The use of individual Governance Indicator scores, as well as a combined Governance Indicator score we developed, demonstrated similar results.

 

Conclusions/Significance: Our study results indicate that good country-level governance is an imperative pre-requisite for the successful early introduction of new vaccines into poor African nations. Enhanced support measures may be required to effectively introduce new vaccines to countries with low governance scores. The combined governance score we developed may thus constitute a useful tool for helping philanthropic organizations make decisions regarding the type of support

needed by different countries to achieve success.

 

Citation: Glatman-Freedman A, Cohen M-L, Nichols KA, Porges RF, Saludes IR, et al. (2010) Factors Affecting the Introduction of New Vaccines to Poor Nations: A

Comparative Study of the Haemophilus influenzae Type B and Hepatitis B Vaccines. PLoS ONE 5(11): e13802. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013802

Editor: David Joseph Diemert, The George Washington University Medical Center, United States of America

Received March 23, 2010; Accepted September 24, 2010; Published November 2, 2010

Copyright: _ 2010 Glatman-Freedman et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which

permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Funding: The authors have no support or funding to report.

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

* E-mail: af1200@nyu.edu

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