Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease that continues to cause death and disability among children despite the availability of a highly efficacious vaccine. Out of the 154 million lives saved by vaccination over the past 50 years (1974 - 2024), measles vaccination is the single most important contributor, accounting for 60.8% (i.e., 93.7 million lives).
Yet, several interrelated and interconnected macro, meso, and micro factors, including vaccine hesitancy, misinformation, and disinformation, continue to hinder the optimal uptake of measles vaccination across many settings worldwide. Implementation research has the potential to optimize routine immunization (and improve coverage with two doses of measles-containing vaccine (MCV1 and MCV2) but continues to be underutilized in programme settings.
Implementation research can aid a deeper understanding of the complex dynamics of factors responsible for underimmunization in specific settings. It can also support co-creation, testing, and evaluation of practical strategies to enhance demand and uptake of routine vaccination in particular settings. Implementation research is unique because it embraces real-world complexity. Several tools (i.e., theories, models and frameworks) already exist in implementation science that researchers and programme managers can use. This recently published commentary highlights the value of implementation research for measles vaccination:
https://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/series/51/1/5/full/
In conclusion, the main challenge with implementation research in immunization settings remains underutilization. Consequently, inequitable coverage for measles vaccines and other essential antigens persists. As child health practitioners and advocates, there is a lot that we can do to foster the use of implementation research in immunization programme settings to increase the coverage of measles vaccines and other antigens.
Our voices can stimulate concrete actions to advance progress in the following areas: stronger researcher-programme partnerships to encourage collaborative implementation research; allocation of resources for implementation research in immunization to stimulate policy-focused, programme-directed projects to solve context-specific problems; and the expansion of implementation research capacity building and training among health workers and immunization programme implementers at national and sub-national levels.
I hope this message clarifies the value of implementation research in immunization to improve coverage of measles vaccines and other antigens.
Regards,
Abdu
CHIFA profile:
Abdu A Adamu is a vaccine implementation researcher with an interest in optimizing the immunization landscape, from vaccine development to delivery in low-and middle-income countries.