Routine Immunization systems strengthening

Immunization is a priority for all countries in the WHO South-East Asia Region, and political commitment at the highest level has led to great progress over the past decade.

However, despite steadily increasing vaccine coverage, it is estimated that still 4.4 million children in the Region did not receive three doses of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine (DTP3) in 2017, a key indicator for the unreached. As such outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases continue to occur, causing death, disabilities and putting strains on families and communities.

Even in countries with well-performing national immunization programmes, there are pockets of unreached or hard-to-reach populations for whom special effort is needed. Strengthening routine immunization systems and services is critical to achieving high coverage and reaching global and regional disease-eliminating targets.