JSI Contributes to New WHO AFRO RED Guidelines

Through USAID’s flagship Maternal and Child Survival Project, JSI contributed practical inputs to the updated WHO AFRO Reaching Every District (RED) guide in close collaboration with the Ministries of Health and global partners. The RED Guide provides guidance on how to strengthen routine immunization systems by improving planning and management of available resources, building capacity for supply chain management, and improving service delivery and program monitoring in the context of primary health care to sustainably and equitably increase access to and use of vaccination services.

JSI’s experts offered advice on the challenges that countries often face when implementing and operationalizing the five RED components, as well as solutions that could be adapted to a variety of contexts. They also provided examples of field realities, contributed tools, job aids, training materials, and other products that JSI has developed over decades of implementing routine immunization strengthening programs around the globe. Prior to finalizing the guide, JSI helped develop pretesting tools as well as the methodology to ensure inclusion of primary users, and supported pretesting in Malawi and Kenya. Lessons learned from these pilots contributed to further revision of the guide and will help countries adapt the new guide.

Since 2003, the RED strategy has played a key role in strengthening African routine immunization systems through approaches designed to sustainably and equitably increase routine immunization coverage. JSI staff were principal contributors to the 2008 WHO AFRO RED guide and participated in multi-partner evaluations of RED in the region in 2005 and 2007. JSI staff in more than a dozen countries have provided on-the-ground technical support to build Ministry of Health capacity at all levels and to implement the full set of RED approaches, including partnering with communities. JSI has also explored the adaptation of RED for use by other health interventions.

JSI will continue to work with Ministries of Health, WHO, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, civil society, and other key immunization partners at the global and country levels to plan and implement the RED approach to strengthen immunization systems.