Supporting vaccinations and strengthening health systems in 16 African countries

An EU-funded and WHO-implemented project helped health systems become more resilient and better prepared to tackle future epidemics of vaccine-preventable diseases. COVID-19 vaccination coverage is on the rise in Africa’s most fragile humanitarian settings as the two-year project comes to a close. At the start of 2022, the COVID-19 vaccination rate was less than 5% on average in the participating countries: Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, the South Sudan Republic, Sudan, and Tanzania. That rate is now closing in on 30% – the continent’s average. 34 million people have received the two-dose vaccinations – more than 1 in 4 people across the population of all countries. The project’s objective has been to prioritize the most vulnerable people and communities. Crucially important for achieving this success were national health workers trained by WHO that have been administering vaccines in urban...