Timely, good-quality immunisation coverage data is vital for countries to plan and monitor their immunisation programmes in an effective way. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance works with WHO, the Global Fund and other agencies to strengthen countries’ health information systems.

STRATEGIC FOCUS AREA ON DATA

To improve the amount, quality and use of available immunisation data, Gavi launched a new strategic focus area (SFA) for data in 2015.

The data SFA targets the 20 countries prioritised for immunisation coverage and equity improvements under the partners' engagement framework (PEF). Our investments address three key areas:

• Immunisation delivery,coverage and equity: strengthening the quality of immunisation coverage data to help address bottlenecks.
• Vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) surveillance: helping countries to strengthen their surveillance systems and use disease data to target and improve immunisation programmes. VPD surveillance systems are also a vital part of ensuring global health security and outbreak preparedness.
• Vaccine safety surveillance and response: establishing and improving data systems to detect adverse events and implement effective response and communication strategies.

Through PEF, Vaccine Alliance partners are supporting new ways to use data to inform immunisation programmes. This includes the production of various immunisation coverage and equity analyses as well as targeted support for data improvement plans.

COUNTRY REQUIREMENTS

Countries applying for Gavi support to improve access to good-quality immunisation coverage data are required to:

• conduct annual desk reviews to monitor coverage data;
• have routine mechanisms in place to independently assess the quality of administrative data. They can use Gavi support to develop a plan, reviewed at the annual joint appraisal, to improve the quality of data over time; and
• undertake regular population-based surveys to assess immunisation coverage.

Impact

More countries meet the data quality benchmark

Gavi measures data quality by tracking the degree of consistency between available estimates of immunisation coverage.

In 2017, 47% of Gavi-supported countries reported administrative coverage (national-level data reported annually by the country itself) within 10 percentage points of survey coverage (data collected as part of household surveys, usually carried out every three to five years). This means that we are moderately off track to achieve our 2020 target of 53%.