Global Health Community Should Use Technology, Digital Systems To Improve Immunization Coverage, Delivery

Nature: Immunization needs a technology boost
Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

“…[A]chieving 100 percent [routine immunization] coverage will require better insight into which children are missing out. For that, we need a new approach: the global health community must move to digital systems. … We should be more ambitious in defining what 100 percent vaccination coverage means. Although the common measure of routine immunization coverage suggests that only one in five children misses out, the reality is much bleaker. … Expanding indicators to include all the WHO-recommended antigens will help. And in theory, governments have already signed up to finding a solution to the problem of birth registration. Both moves are essential to improve understanding of how many children are fully immunized. A third essential ingredient is information technologies targeted at helping the developing world. If we want to make sure that preventable childhood deaths are actually prevented, we need to go digital” (11/13).

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