At the request of the United Nations Resident Coordinator, a high level meeting was held with the new Minister of Health Dr Ruhakana Rugunda to discuss to the issues affecting the performance of the immunization program in Uganda.

The meeting was attended by the Director General of Health Services Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, Deputy UNICEF Representative Dr. May Anaybolu, the WHO Representative Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu and technical officers from WHO and UNICEF.

The meeting was held in view of Uganda’s poor performance on immunization coverage. While the country is required to reach coverage of more than 80% by 2010 and more than 90% by 2015, there are some districts with DPT3 coverage of less than 50%.

The meeting brought to the attention of the Hon Minister key issues affecting the performance of the Ugandan immunization program.

After discussions it was agreed that in order to improve immunization coverage it is important to identify and appoint a substantive UNEPI Programme Manager.

In addition, the meeting agreed to implement clear guidelines, including specification of roles and responsibilities to ensure streamlined vaccine and logistics distribution.

It was also suggested that the Ministry of Health should use the mTrac project to generate data on functional status of the refrigerators and vaccine stock-outs and put in place an action plan to resolve the cold-chain bottlenecks in next 30 days.

Furthermore, the team requested UNEPI and the National Medical Stores to provide monthly status reports. In addition, they were also requested to repeat the mTrac survey on vaccines and cold chain every 3 months for one year and then advise on whether it should be institutionalized.

It was agreed to call a stakeholders meeting to share information on action being taken by MoH to resolve the current challenges. Finally, partners will work with government to address the declining immunization coverage including devising ways to fast track release of the GAVI ISS/HSS funds.

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For more information please contact :

Benjamin Sensasi, Health Promotion Advisor, WHO Country Office
Tel 256-41-335500
Email: sensasib [at] ug.afro.who.int (sensasib[at]ug[dot]afro[dot]who[dot]int)