Zambia Evaluation & Research of 0-Dose (ZER0-D): Strategies to More Effectively Target Measles Zero-Dose Children
Challenge
Countries such as Zambia with high coverage with the first dose of measles-containing vaccine (MCV) and increasing coverage with the second dose of MCV are encouraged to consider moving away from nationwide, non-selective measles and rubella mass vaccination campaigns (supplemental immunization activities or SIAs) toward more targeted and selective vaccination strategies. In such settings, nationwide, non-selective vaccination campaigns can be inefficient in reaching measles zero-dose children and are resource intensive. The goal of this project is to better understand the decision-making processes in implementing targeted and selective measles and rubella vaccination strategies and whether school entry checks could be an additional strategy to identify and vaccinate measles zero-dose and other under-vaccinated children in Zambia.
Approach
The Gavi Zero-Dose project consists of two workstreams to improve the ability to reach measles zero-dose children and close immunity gaps more effectively.
The first workstream on decision-making aims to:
- Identify what factors need to be considered by policy makers and EPI program managers to select appropriate supplementary measles vaccination strategies
- Determine if and how sub-national modeled or triangulated indicators of the risk of measles outbreaks can be used to improve the decision-making process
The second workstream on school entry vaccination aims to:
- Implement a pilot school entry vaccination program in selected rural and urban districts to determine the feasibility of using school entry checks to identify unvaccinated and undervaccinated school children, households, and communities
- Use dynamic modeling to estimate the potential effectiveness of school entry as a point of contact for identifying and filling vaccination gaps among children
Resources
Project Status
Active
Practice Areas
Country Support, Coverage & Equity
Disease Focus
Measles
Location
Zambia
Target Population
Child
Partners
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (funder)
Tropical Diseases Research Centre
Zambian Ministry of Health
Zambian Ministry of General Education
Project Contact
William Moss, MD, MPH
wmoss1@jhu.edu