Vaccinations Campaign
Empowering communities for sustainable health through advocacy, accountability, and equitable access to vaccines
About the Campaign
The VacciNations Campaign is a year-long advocacy initiative led by PATH, WACI Health, and the Gavi CSO Constituency. It aims to ensure increased funding commitments for immunization through Gavi replenishment and domestic resource mobilization for sustainable immunization financing. This campaign responds to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which left many African children under-immunized or with zero vaccine doses.
Why Immunisation Matters
Immunisation is not just a healthcare service—it is a lifesaving intervention that strengthens communities, enhances health systems, and contributes to achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG 3, which calls for good health and well-being for all. Although Africa has made significant progress in expanding immunization coverage, recent disruptions underscore the urgent need to reinforce immunization efforts and funding mechanisms to safeguard future generations.
Campaign Objectives
- Analyze the impact of shrinking fiscal space on national and global immunisation financing.
- Highlight successful financing and accountability models that can be replicated or scaled up across African nations.
- Present the latest findings from studies on immunization financing and accountability to inform policy changes and best practices.
- Strengthen partnerships between governments, technical teams, and civil society organizations to bolster immunization financing and accountability mechanisms across Africa.
Key Focus Areas
- Immunization Financing: Addressing gaps in funding and how to mitigate risks associated with shrinking fiscal space.
- Policy and Practice: Translating recent study findings into actionable policies that enhance immunization systems.
- Partnership Building: Leveraging collaboration between governments, technical experts, civil society, and donors to amplify immunization funding and outcomes.
- Sustainable Solutions: Promoting domestic resource mobilization for sustainable long-term immunization financing.
Get Involved
The VacciNations Campaign invites all stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, civil society organizations, and healthcare professionals, to engage in this critical dialogue. Your participation will help shape the future of immunization across Africa, ensuring that no child is left behind.
Past Engagements
May 2025
Financing the Future: Securing Immunization Coverage in Africa
Over 111 million children in Africa have missed critical vaccines. This high-level webinar explored financing challenges and proposed solutions like integrating immunization into broader economic reforms. From Nigeria’s direct funding models to Malawi’s earmarked taxes, the session emphasized regional collaboration and domestic resource mobilization.
A Collaborative Push for Sustainable Immunization Financing in Africa
Co-hosted by Gavi CSO Constituency, PATH, and WACI Health, this dialogue highlighted funding gaps and success stories across Africa. While countries like Nigeria and the DRC face severe shortfalls, Ethiopia and Uganda show what’s possible with strategic investment and advocacy.
Hamzah Zekriah, Senior Manager, Public Partnership Engagement and CSO Liaison at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, discussed the organisation's efforts to engage civil society in reaching the unreached and zero-dose children. He acknowledged the limitations of the current engagement model and highlighted initiatives to address them, such as allocating a minimum of 10% of funding to civil society organisations, promoting localisation, and establishing partnerships for community mobilisation.
Nine-year-old Mary Nafula Sambili, a child advocate from Kenya, shared her perspective on the importance of immunisation. She emphasised that every child deserves access to life-saving vaccines, regardless of their background or family's financial situation. Mary called for governments, donors, and CSOs to prioritise funding and ensure that no child is turned away due to a lack of vaccines.
Dr. Michael Bulongo presented a health financing analysis of 10 African countries, highlighting challenges such as low tax revenues, high public debt, and insufficient health spending. The analysis underscored the need for multi-sectoral investments and improved domestic resource mobilisation to ensure the sustainability and ownership of immunisation programmes.