Barbara Jauregui1, Cara Bess Janusz2, Andrew D Clark3, Anushua Sinha4, Ana Gabriela Felix Garcia2, Stephen Resch5, Cristiana M Toscano6, Colin Sanderson3, Jon Kim Andrus2. 1. Comprehensive Family Immunization, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA. Electronic address: barbarajauregui@gmail.com. 2. Comprehensive Family Immunization, Pan American Health Organization, Washington, DC, USA. 3. Health Services, Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. 4. Depatment of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers - The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, USA. 5. Center for Health Decision Science, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA. 6. Universidade Federal de Goias, Goiania, Brazil.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) created the ProVac Initiative in 2004 with the goal of strengthening national technical capacity to make evidence-based decisions on new vaccine introduction, focusing on economic evaluations. In view of the 10th anniversary of the ProVac Initiative, this article describes its progress and reflects on lessons learned to guide the next phase. METHODS: We quantified the output of the Initiative's capacity-building efforts and critically assess its progress toward achieving the milestones originally proposed in 2004. Additionally, we reviewed how country studies supported by ProVac have directly informed and strengthened the deliberations around new vaccine introduction. RESULTS: Since 2004, ProVac has conducted four regional workshops and supported 24 health economic analyses in 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Five Regional Centers of Excellence were funded, resulting in six operational research projects and nine publications. Twenty four decisions on new vaccine introductions were supported with ProVac studies. Enduring products include the TRIVAC and CERVIVAC cost-effectiveness models, the COSTVAC program costing model, methodological guides, workshop training materials and the OLIVES on-line data repository. Ten NITAGs were strengthened through ProVac activities. DISCUSSION: The evidence accumulated suggests that initiatives with emphasis on sustainable training and direct support for countries to generate evidence themselves, can help accelerate the introduction of the most valuable new vaccines. International and Regional Networks of Collaborators are necessary to provide technical support and tools to national teams conducting analyses. Timeliness, integration, quality and country ownership of the process are four necessary guiding principles for national economic evaluations to have an impact on policymaking. It would be an asset to have a model that offers different levels of complexity to choose from depending on the vaccine being evaluated, the availability of data, and the time frame of the decision. CONCLUSION: Decision support for new vaccine introduction in low- and middle-income countries is critical to maximizing the efficiency and impact of vaccination programs. Global technical cooperation will be required. In the future, PAHO and WHO have an opportunity to expand the reach of the ProVac philosophy, models, and methods to additional regions and countries requiring real-time support. The ProVac Global Initiative is proposed as an effective mechanism to do so.
INTRODUCTION: The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) created the ProVac Initiative in 2004 with the goal of strengthening national technical capacity to make evidence-based decisions on new vaccine introduction, focusing on economic evaluations. In view of the 10th anniversary of the ProVac Initiative, this article describes its progress and reflects on lessons learned to guide the next phase. METHODS: We quantified the output of the Initiative's capacity-building efforts and critically assess its progress toward achieving the milestones originally proposed in 2004. Additionally, we reviewed how country studies supported by ProVac have directly informed and strengthened the deliberations around new vaccine introduction. RESULTS: Since 2004, ProVac has conducted four regional workshops and supported 24 health economic analyses in 15 Latin American and Caribbean countries. Five Regional Centers of Excellence were funded, resulting in six operational research projects and nine publications. Twenty four decisions on new vaccine introductions were supported with ProVac studies. Enduring products include the TRIVAC and CERVIVAC cost-effectiveness models, the COSTVAC program costing model, methodological guides, workshop training materials and the OLIVES on-line data repository. Ten NITAGs were strengthened through ProVac activities. DISCUSSION: The evidence accumulated suggests that initiatives with emphasis on sustainable training and direct support for countries to generate evidence themselves, can help accelerate the introduction of the most valuable new vaccines. International and Regional Networks of Collaborators are necessary to provide technical support and tools to national teams conducting analyses. Timeliness, integration, quality and country ownership of the process are four necessary guiding principles for national economic evaluations to have an impact on policymaking. It would be an asset to have a model that offers different levels of complexity to choose from depending on the vaccine being evaluated, the availability of data, and the time frame of the decision. CONCLUSION: Decision support for new vaccine introduction in low- and middle-income countries is critical to maximizing the efficiency and impact of vaccination programs. Global technical cooperation will be required. In the future, PAHO and WHO have an opportunity to expand the reach of the ProVac philosophy, models, and methods to additional regions and countries requiring real-time support. The ProVac Global Initiative is proposed as an effective mechanism to do so.
Authors: Rania A Tohme; Jeannot Francois; Kathleen F Cavallaro; Gilson Paluku; Idrissa Yalcouye; Ernsley Jackson; Tracie Wright; Paul Adrien; Mark A Katz; Terri B Hyde; Pape Faye; Francine Kimanuka; Vance Dietz; John Vertefeuille; David Lowrance; Benjamin Dahl; Roopal Patel Journal: Am J Trop Med Hyg Date: 2017-10 Impact factor: 2.345
Authors: Frances Knight; Megan W Bourassa; Elaine Ferguson; Helen Walls; Saskia de Pee; Stephen Vosti; Homero Martinez; Carol Levin; Monica Woldt; Kavita Sethurman; Gilles Bergeron Journal: Ann N Y Acad Sci Date: 2022-04-20 Impact factor: 6.499