Immunization, surveillance, and the global health security agenda: historical perspectives and implications for national immunization programs
Year: 2020
Type: article
Abstract: BackgroundUnlike most other disease prevention programs in public health, the ones involving vaccine-preventable diseases through well-managed national immunization programs (NIPs) have benefited by rapidly expanding science of vaccinology 1 .The prime objective of NIPs remains as: to administer the available, safe, and effective vaccines to all, especially to those that are most at risk.By prioritizing vulnerable populations -hard-to-reach rural populations, poor urban slums, migratory populations, pregnant women, and chronically underserved indigenous communities -NIPs become important drivers of reducing inequities in health, thus saving more lives more quickly, administering the benefits of the traditional and now the newer vaccines 2 .For such purpose, surveillance is critically important, since knowing where disease occurs is the best approach for determining the communities that are most at risk, to receive life-saving technologies.Infectious diseases respect no borders; they are only a plane ride away 3 .An ideal, inclusive and regional approach to prevent and control vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) provides effective coordination and technical cooperation across borders, regardless of political ideologies of neighboring countries 4 .Health security among all communities and among all countries supersedes political differences.Among many factors, VPD surveillance again is a key factor; additionally, accurate vaccination coverage data also aids with the prioritization of underserved areas.As we move closer to a world without polio, successfully sustaining the assets of the global eradication initiative (GPEI) will require the prioritization of comprehensive VPD surveillance as a global good 5 .Strengthening VPD surveillance in many countries, especially those of the Latin America and the Caribbean and Southeast Asia, resulted from building upon the polio foundation to implement a greatly expanded rash and fever surveillance system used for measles-rubella elimination.The foundation of polio surveillance, reinforced with rash and fever surveillance, in turn, becomes the backbone of all comprehensive VPD surveillance.Global health security should logically benefit from high-quality VPD disease surveillance and vaccination coverage, supported by accountable international health regulations (IHR) 6 .The aim of this article is to share personal insights on how the work towards implementing comprehensive VPD surveillance combined with high-quality vaccination responses may provide lessons for maintaining global health security. Immunization, surveillance, and the global health security agenda: historical perspectives and implications for national immunization programsImunização, vigilância e a agenda global de segurança sanitária: perspectivas históricas e implicações para programas nacionais de imunização Inmunización, vigilancia, y agenda global de la seguridad de la salud: perspectivas históricas e implicaciones para los programas nacionales de inmunización
Source: Cadernos de Saúde Pública
Author: Jon Kim Andrus
Institution: George Washington University
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3089265017