The future of routine immunization in Africa

The Addis Declaration [1] adopted at the first Ministerial Conference on Immunization in Africa re-iterates the critical value of vaccines in improving the health of people on the continent. In Africa, the successful implementation of vaccination programs resulted in a drastic reduction of the burden of vaccine preventable diseases (VPD): polio is on the verge of being eradicated, more than thousands of measles cases and deaths have been averted; neonatal tetanus is close to elimination and the dreaded cycle of Meningitis A epidemics in West Africa has been broken; to name just a few. Most vaccinations in Africa are delivered through the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI); a combination of infrastructural, programmatic and financial processes aiming at systematically delivering the much needed vaccines to all eligible target population in a country