African Heads of State and Government declared their commitment to increase domestic and external investments in routine immunization programs in Africa and consequently to promote, provide and protect health for all the people in Africa.

The unanimous endorsement of the draft declaration on ‘Building Momentum for Routine Immunization Recovery in Africa’ was made on 19th February 2023 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during a high-level side event held on the margins of the 36th Ordinary Session of the African Union Assembly of Heads of State and Government.
With the declaration the leaders acknowledged the urgent need to revitalise routine immunisation programmes on the continent to better prepare for and effectively respond to vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks.
 
Africa’s leaders resolved that their governments would revitalize the momentum for all populations to have universal access to immunization to reduce mortality, morbidity, and disability, and consequently contribute to achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals and COVID-19 socio-economic recovery.  

Held with the theme of “Building momentum for routine immunization recovery in Africa’ the high-level side event has renewed the continental focus on immunization; positioning immunization as a key contributor to people’s fundamental right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable physical and mental health and as a critical investment for the full achievement of Agenda 2063 and the SDG 2030 Agenda.

The side event was organized by the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the African Union Commission for Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development. 

Chairing the side event, H.E President Julius Maada Bio of the Republic of Sierra Leone stated that national and universal immunization targets could be achieved only by achieving universal health coverage. The President further urged other Member States to take concrete, collective action to reinstate pre-pandemic immunization coverage levels through country ownership of immunization programs and budgetary allocation by governments.

Speaking at the side event, WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, indicated that there has been an increase in the number of zero-dose children in Africa from 7.7 million in 2020 to nearly 12 million in 2022. “Nine African countries are the main contributors to this group. Routine immunization coverage rates have declined in Africa. What this means is that there is a recurrence of outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases, mainly measles. Thirty-one African countries currently have an ongoing outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases, and 17 of these are battling more than one outbreak”, the Regional Director highlighted.

“Our focus must be razor-sharp:  we must reach the remaining un- or under-immunized children in just a handful of subnational geographies, which together now account for almost 90% of all new polio cases worldwide” Dr Matshidiso said as she called upon Africa’s leaders to increase domestic financing for child survival interventions, cervical cancer prevention and local, regional, and continental manufacturing of vaccines and other public countermeasures.
 
Routine childhood vaccination is among the essential health services disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, the world saw the worst continued decline in routine immunization in 30 years. Within the African continent this has led to increasing outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases
New polio cases have not only re-emerged in African countries that had not experienced the virus in decades but has also crossed borders to the United Kingdom, the United States and Israel; sending a message that neglecting routine immunization puts children and communities everywhere at risk of epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases. 

The unprecedented pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic on immunization supply chains, primary health care (PHC) systems, health workforce, and national budgets, have further exacerbated the backsliding in immunization rates in 20 countries that now contain three-quarters of the world’s zero-dose children. Among these countries, nine are from the African region and account for 43% of zero-dose children. “This is a child crisis which could translate in high child morbidity and mortality across Africa, and the globe”, the WHO Regional Director emphasized.

The declaration seeks to address the deepfelt devastation caused to the lives and livelihoods of communities due to COVID 19 pandemic that put health systems under enormous pressure, extensively disrupting essential health services, including routine immunization, and resulting in catastrophic health and socio-economic outcomes.

The leaders invited collective ownership and commitment of all partners including the African Development Bank, Regional Economic Communities and Regional Health Organizations and the sustained leadership of the African Union and WHO, to support the implementation of the declaration, and to increase their efforts to mobilize resources and secure new investments to strengthen national immunization programs to achieve the IA2030 goals and build the resilience of health care delivery systems in the AU Member States overall.