The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is set to receive a substantial financial boost of $59.7 million from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance’s Equity Accelerator Fund (EAF). The funding aims to accelerate efforts in vaccinating “zero-dose” children, who have not received any routine vaccines, by 35% before 2025.
The investment comes as a part of the Mashako Plan 2.0 and the Kinshasa Declaration and will focus on 11 provinces in the DRC, accounting for 74% of the country’s total number of zero-dose children. These provinces include Tshopo, Maniema, Kasai-Oriental, Mongala, Kasai, Haut Katanga, Sankuru, South Kivu, Tshuapa, Maindombe, and South Ubangi.
The main objectives of the funding are to track vaccinations using GPS and SMS, identify zero-dose children through community healthcare workers, conduct door-to-door outreach, and address gender-related obstacles that may hinder vaccine demand in priority areas.
Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, expressed the importance of innovative solutions and targeted support in reaching zero-dose children. This funding will ensure that even the most marginalized communities are not left behind in receiving life-saving vaccines.
Gavi’s allocation of nearly $60 million for the DRC represents the largest amount of funding directed to any single country from the Equity Accelerator Fund. As of 2021, the DRC had one of the highest numbers of children globally (734,000) who were missing out on routine vaccines, with the country experiencing outbreaks of cholera, polio, and measles.
The EAF will implement several high-impact activities and innovations to reach these children effectively. These include empowering local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and community healthcare workers to identify and monitor zero-dose children, using GPS and SMS technology to track vaccinations, and addressing gender-related barriers to vaccine access.
The initiative will also focus on reaching communities beyond a 5km radius from health facilities, including internally displaced and refugee populations. Additionally, the use of drones in areas with limited accessibility and new battery and electricity-free cold chain carriers will be piloted in select provinces to ensure vaccines remain at optimal temperatures during transportation.
Dr. Sylvain Yuma Ramazani, Secretary General of the Ministry of Public Health, Hygiene, and Prevention in the DRC, expressed gratitude to Gavi for supporting the country’s health system and reducing the number of zero-dose children.
While the DRC has made strides in improving immunization coverage through initiatives like the Mashako 1.0 Plan in 2019, progress slowed down in 2021 due to the pandemic and a health care workers’ strike. The current national coverage for full immunization stands at 45%, lower than the levels achieved in 2019.
The new funding from Gavi’s Equity Accelerator Fund is expected to provide a much-needed push towards increasing immunization coverage and reaching vulnerable children in the DRC. The investment complements Gavi’s existing support to the country, which includes new vaccine introductions and mass campaigns to address immunization inequity.
Over the past 21 years, Gavi has been a steadfast partner in supporting the DRC’s vaccination efforts, providing over $1.6 billion in funding for the introduction of various vaccines, such as hepatitis B, pentavalent, inactivated poliovirus, rotavirus, measles-rubella, and pneumococcal vaccines. The latest allocation from the EAF will further strengthen the country’s efforts to protect its children from preventable diseases.