Global control of vaccine-preventable diseases: how progress can be evaluated

In the developing world, excluding China, less than 40% of infants receive a third dose of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis or poliovirus vaccines. More than 3 million children still die annually from measles, neonatal tetanus, and pertussis, while more than a quarter of a million children are crippled by poliomyelitis. Acceleration of existing efforts, with the use of approaches that must differ according to the requirements of individual countries, constitutes the overriding priority for the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). In evaluating immunization programs, priority should be placed on monitoring immunization coverage and disease incidence. Routine reports are essential for this purpose, although they may usefully be supplemented by surveys. The problems revealed by an evaluation of immunization programs can be taken as being generic to the health services as a whole, until proven otherwise. Therefore, in remedying these problems, approaches that improve the health services as a whole should be sought.