The impact of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative on the financing of routine immunization: case studies in Bangladesh, C te d'Ivoire, and Morocco.

To determine if the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) affected financing of routine immunization programmes, we compared sources and uses of funds for routine immunization programmes and PEI activities in Bangladesh, C te d'Ivoire, and Morocco for the years 1993-98. We also examined funding trends for these years in these countries and assessed the effect of the initiative on the availability of specific resources in national immunization programmes, such as cold-chain equipment and personnel time spent on activities related to national immunization days and surveillance of poliomyelitis and acute flaccid paralysis. We found that all three governments and the majority of donors and international organizations continued to fund routine immunization programmes at levels similar to those before the PEI. Trend analysis also indicated that financing for routine immunization in each of the countries continued to increase after the PEI was introduced. The results show that the PEI did not reduce funding for routine immunizations in these countries.