Conference Report on the 2025 Annual Review of the Essential Programme on Immunization in DR Congo: Dealing with...

At the end of each year, stakeholders of the Essential Immunization Programme (EPI) in the DR Congo meet to review progress made and lessons learned from the implementation of the Annual Operational Plan (AOP) and to set priorities for the following year. This paper presents a conference report that summarizes the main outcomes of the 2025 annual review meeting, which took place from 15 to 20 December 2025, and attracted 76 participants. Conference takeaways: While the 2024 WUENIC data show that the DR Congo is off-track for the 2030 Immunization agenda targets for all antigens, the administrative coverages were reported as optimal in 2025. EPI activities are planned based on administrative coverages, likely overestimated. In 2025, 47% of health zones in North-Kivu, South-Kivu and Ituri (49 out of 104) were fully or partially controlled by armed groups, leading to partial disruptions of immunization service delivery. In 2025, the DR Congo successfully launched the measles-rubella vaccine introduction preceded by a catch-up vaccination campaign in children aged from 6 months to 14 years old and continued to roll out malaria vaccines using a phased approach.

Learning from the implementation of the 2025 AOP, the EPI stakeholders adopted a set of priority actions for the immunization programme in 2026.