Message by the Director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals at WHO – February 2024 – World Health Organization (WHO)

Kate O'Brien, Director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals at WHO

In the coming months, the global immunization communitys attention will be immersed in two pivotal events which will underscore the importance of vaccination in safeguarding public health and well-being.

Kicking off the agenda is the Meeting of the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization, slated for March 11-14. This gathering promises a comprehensive assessment of the Big Catch-Up initiative's progress, alongside an in-depth review of its monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) strategy. SAGE members will provide feedback on fortifying the initiative's long-term impact and resilience. Moreover, they will delve into the progress being made on key elements of the Immunization Agenda 2030 strategy, issuing key recommendations on the polio, hepatitis E, and Mpox vaccines.

Following closely on the heels of SAGE, in Paris on April 26, the first WHO high-level meeting to defeat meningitis will sound a clarion call to action. This global gathering aims to galvanize commitments towards realizing the objectives detailed in the WHO Global Road Map to defeat meningitis by 2030. Meningitis continues to pose a significant threat to public health, with staggering global statistics of 236,000 deaths and 2.51 million incident cases recorded in 2019 alone.

Notably, the Paris high-level meeting synchronizes with the lead-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will see several athletes affected by meningitis competing. This opportunity is poised to elevate visibility for the Global Road Map's pivotal focus on bolstering care and support for affected individuals. Progress in the fight against meningitis is now more than just plans, with recent advancements such as the WHO's endorsement of a novel meningococcal conjugate vaccine tailored for the countries of the African meningitis belt, grappling with seasonal epidemics. The Men5CV vaccine holds immense promise, heralding a more impactful and cost-effective intervention for countries in the meningitis belt. Coupled with the Gavi Board's green light for expanding meningococcal programs to include Men5CV, the momentum towards defeating meningitis gains traction.

In a landmark moment in the fight against cervical cancer, governments, donors, multilateral institutions, and partners have collectively pledged nearly US$600 million in new funding towards the ambitious goal of eliminating cervical cancer. This unprecedented commitment, announced at the inaugural Global Cervical Cancer Elimination Forum this week in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, marks a significant step towards eradicating this preventable disease on a global scale. With a focus on expanding HPV vaccination and strengthening screening, the goal is to eliminate this preventable disease that particularly impacts women in low and middle-income countries.

The Measles and Rubella Partnership convened in Washington, D.C., marking its first in-person meeting since 2019 and underscoring a pivotal moment in the global fight against these preventable diseases. Representatives from around the world gathered to strategize on key priorities, which include advancing the development of measles-rubella microarray patches and refining gap-filling campaigns to ensure targeted and effective interventions, especially for vulnerable populations. Additionally, discussions centered on leveraging improvements in measles programs to bolster primary healthcare initiatives, aiming to strengthen healthcare systems on a global scale. Through collaboration and knowledge-sharing, stakeholders aimed to overcome challenges and drive progress towards the shared goal of eradicating measles and rubella, shaping the future of public health efforts worldwide.

Amidst these advances, updated data from 2023 shed light on the escalating threat of measles outbreaks in Europe and beyond. Alarming spikes in cases underscore the urgent need for a concerted, robust response to safeguard vulnerable populations. The disproportionate toll on children below 5 years of age is a clear secondary impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. WHO and partners have warned throughout the pandemic of the eventuality that one crisis would spawn another, and now communities and countries are living those warning. Many countries are taking action to fill measles immunity gaps, yet predictions are that nearly half of countries remain at high or very high risk of imminent outbreaks underscoring the gravity of the situation and imperative to act now.

This year, 2024 is a pivotal juncture for the recovery of the immunization programme. It is the moment to fortify surveillance activities which are crucial for a well operating immunization programme, ramp up routine immunization service capacity and access, and execute targeted catch-up initiatives to fill the large immunity gaps that have grown to include older children.

The wider implementation of malaria vaccines across Africa is well underway. Earlier this year, Cameroon and Burkina Faso launched the first malaria vaccine, RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S), as part of their routine immunization programmes, according to national malaria control plans, and malaria vaccination programmes are expanding in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. More than 30 countries are expected to apply for Gavi support to deploy malaria vaccine. I recommend a recent article by WHO authors and experts in The Lancet "Malaria vaccines for children: and now there are two", which highlights the recently published results of the R21 vaccine phase 3 trial, and comments on the public health potential of two WHO-recommended and prequalified malaria vaccines.

Wide implementation of the malaria vaccines is expected to save tens of thousands of lives each year. Malaria vaccines are a breakthrough in the fight against malaria and early childhood deaths.

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Message by the Director of the Department of Immunization, Vaccines and Biologicals at WHO - February 2024 - World Health Organization (WHO)