This time last year, people around the world watched in disbelief as West Africa battled with
one of the most destructive epidemics of the past century, an Ebola outbreak that claimed over
11,000 lives. One year on, leaders from the public and private sectors gathered at the Annual
Meeting in Davos to
make sure such a crisis never happens again.
As Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and Merck announce a new agreement to support
the provision of a vaccine to
protect against future deadly Ebola outbreaks, it is necessary for leaders
around the globe to double down on
their shared commitment to immunization in order to cope with existing and future
health challenges. One of the most important lessons from the Ebola epidemic is that prevention must
be the priority and that treating our way out of an epidemic simply costs too many lives and
too much money.As we welcome and applaud this new partnership, another innovation promises to
leverage technology for better preparedness and effective prevention. The Better Immunization
Data (BID) Initiative, a partnership led by PATH, is piloting systems that rely on simple yet
effective technology to track vaccines from the lab to health clinics, even in the most remote
areas, to collect vitally important data to enhance immunization and overall health service
delivery. Immunization data is essential to ensure life-saving vaccines are reaching everyone,
especially in the case of highly contagious diseases like Ebola, measles or cholera, where a few
individuals who slip through the system can undermine efforts to contain an epidemic. The case of
polio is another instance in which a small number of people outside the immunization system
can prevent the disease from being eradicated, like the outbreak in Ukraine last year. The BID
Initiative seeks to implement vaccine data systems that can help health workers monitor, identify
and reach these people and ensure the health of their communities. The BID Initiative is currently
being piloted in two African countries, including Tanzania, where last year vaccine-preventable
diseases such as pneumonia and rotavirus claimed the lives of as many as 22,000 children under
five years of age.
The system consists of a digital registry that creates an immunization schedule for
each registered birth, which is updated online by health workers with new vaccinations using a
barcode system. For facilities without access to electricity, simplified paper forms are used to
record the data to make it easily transferrable to the electronic registry. The availability of
this data allows health workers to keep track of vaccine delivery with great precision and to
maintain adequate vaccine stocks.
The availability of immunization and health data will be central to redesigning health policy with
a focus on prevention. Such data can allow for accurate budget planning and improve the impact of
donor funds where they are most needed, and comprehensive immunization can in turn relieve the
health system by lowering the volume of patients affected by preventable diseases. Once fully
tested and implemented, the BID Initiative will be tasked with scaling the Tanzanian model to
other countries facing similar challenges.
The leadership exhibited by the Tanzanian Ministry of Health in supporting the BID initiative is
precisely what is needed to improve immunization coverage.
At the first-ever Ministerial Conference on Immunization in Africa in Ethiopia next month, African
leaders will reaffirm their commitment to ensuring every child receives life-saving vaccines.
I urge the global health community and policy makers everywhere to leverage the power of data and
technology to achieve this goal of building more sustainable, equitable and effective
health systems
based on preventing life-threatening diseases in the first place.
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Author: Orin Levine, Director of the Vaccine Delivery Team , Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Dr. Orin Levine leads the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s efforts to accelerate the introduction
of new vaccines and related technologies and to improve routine immunization systems.
Before joining the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Development Program in 2012,
Dr. Levine was a Professor of International Health, and
Executive Director of the International Vaccine Access Center (IVAC)
at the Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomberg School of Public Health. He has also served as
a Steering Committee Member of the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration and Co-Chair of its Global
Access Working Group, as well as President, Committee on Global Health, American Society
of Tropical Medicine & Hygiene.
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