AMP in the News

AMP's Africhol project, which aims to determine the incidence of cholera in sub-Saharan Africa through the creation of a surveillance network in nine countries, was featured in IRIN, a news service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The article highlights the recent outbreaks of cholera in Mozambique following heavy rains. As of February 5, 2013, over 90 people had died and 211,000 been displaced according to a UN report.  The national Africhol team is expanding surveillance in the affected areas to closely survey the epidemic.

For more information, please read the IRIN article or see the full story written by AMP's Africhol team.

AMP’s SIVAC Initiative to support the establishment or strengthening of National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) in low- and middle-income countries was featured in the December 2012 issue of "The Civil Society Dose," the quarterly newsletter of the GAVI CSO Constituency.

The article explains how SIVAC has supported the Mozambican Committee of Experts on Immunisation (CoPI) to develop recommendations for appropriate and sustainable evidence-based decisions on immunization and vaccines.

Article published on the website of the government of Côte d'Ivoire about the third annual Africhol consortium meeting, held in Abidjan from November 27-28, 2012 [article in French]. For more information [in English], see here.

The American Friends of Guinea (AFG) highlights its recent partnership with AMP to deploy a LaboMobil© to Guinea. The first of its kind in the country, the LaboMobil© is an all-terrain vehicle outfitted with laboratory equipment, capable of performing bacteriological analysis in remote regions. As such, it makes it possible to rapidly diagnose diseases, prevent epidemics, and conduct essential research that will provide invaluable information to health authorities both locally and worldwide. 

For more information on LaboMobil© click here

AMP's LOGIVAC and Africhol projects are featured twice in the September issue of Global Immunization News. The first article (see page 2) presents the EVM + HERMES (Effective Vaccine Management + Highly Extensible Resource for Modeling Supply Chains) pilot project in Benin that aims to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the country's vaccine supply chain. AMP participated in the project through LOGIVAC, a joint collaboration with WHO, along with partners including PATH, USAID, Transaid, Vascular Medicine Institute (VMI) – University of Pittsburgh, and UNICEF.

The second article (see page 6) presents an update on cholera surveillance in the DRC, one of the nine participating countries in AMP's Africhol project. It also highlights the recent publication of the country's first annual cholera report for 2011 (in French).

AMP is featured twice in the June issue of Global Immunization News. The first article discusses how AMP's LOGIVAC project is collaborating with the Ministry of Health in Benin to apply the EVM + HERMES approach to optimize the vaccine supply chain (see page 2). The second article presents AMP's contribution to PAHO's ProVac International Working Group; in collaboration with WHO regional offices, AMP provides technical assistance to countries in the EURO and EMRO regions for cost-effectiveness evaluations of potential new vaccine introductions (see page 9).

AMP’s ADVIM project to improve advocacy for immunization financing in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire was featured in The Civil Society Dose, the quarterly newsletter of the GAVI CSO Constituency. The article provided an overview of project scope and highlighted various advocacy micro projects currently being implemented in the three participating countries. 

Established in 2009, ADVIM involves three main phases or activities: 1) situation analysis of existing national advocacy capacity, development of an advocacy resource base (online platform), and partnership building; 2) capacity strengthening through tailor-made, blended training and development of advocacy micro projects; and 3) creation of an advocacy model that can be rolled out across sub-Saharan Africa and transfer of the ADVIM training program to regional public health institutions.

Click here to read the full text [English]

The April issue of Global Immunization News presents the role of the SIVAC Initiative, implemented by AMP in collaboration with IVI, in the establishment of Côte d’Ivoire's National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) in a country-driven process (see page 8). The article links to the recently published article on the topic, accessible here.

LOGIVAC, a project implemented by AMP and the World Health Organization (WHO), featured in Global Immunization News, published by the WHO. The article discusses LOGIVAC's curriculum development workshop for health logistics training in Africa, held in Paris in February 2012 (see page 3). 

Article in Fraternité (French-language newspaper from Benin) features 3rd EPIVAC Technical Conference, held from February 16-18, 2012, on the campus of the Regional Institute of Public Health (l’Institut Régional de Santé Publique, IRSP) in Ouidah, Benin. The conference tackled the increasing budgetary pressure on immunization programs in countries eligible for GAVI, caused by the continual introduction of new vaccines for much higher prices than traditional EPI vaccines. Its theme was the "Sustainability and self-financing of immunization programs in sub-Saharan Africa: current situation and innovative perspectives."