POST 00965E : COLD CHAIN CAPACITY ASSESSMENT/REQUEST FOR INFO

POST 00965E : COLD CHAIN CAPACITY ASSESSMENT/REQUEST FOR INFO 23 August 2006 ______________________________________________________________ NOTE : I have inadvertently deleted a message from a member, going too fast in deleting the load of spams... so please, whoever wrote to TechNet on Sunday 20 or Monday 21, would you please send your message again, with my apologies. ---------------------------------- Robin Biellik (mailto:[email protected]) from PATH/Europe is seeking infirmation on protocols for cold chain capacity assessments. If you believe any information useful to other TechNet members, please also copy your reply to TechNet. ________________________________ My objective is to develop/adapt/plagiarize a practical and relatively inexpensive generic protocol for making cold chain capacity assessments in developing countries. As you may be aware, some of the new vaccines, notably rotavirus and HPV vaccines, that are in late stage of development have unfortunately been initially packaged and presented in formats designed for industrialized country settings, that is, in single-dose presentations, with expensive materials, large volumes and without VVMs. Why that has happened and how that can be changed is the subject of a separate discussion. The issue that remains, for the time being, is that introduction of these new vaccines in developing countries should go ahead as soon as countries review the evidence base and decide they want to include them in the national EPI, and, for the poorest countries, following WHO pre-qualification and GAVI subsidy to make them economically feasible. You may be aware that rotavirus vaccine has been introduced in 4 middle-income countries in Latin America (Brazil, Panama, Mexico and Venezuela), accompanied by considerable impact on cold chain capacity. In the HPV Vaccine Project, PATH will conduct demonstration projects in 4 countries (India, Peru, Uganda and Vietnam) during 2007-08. We need to assist those countries to conduct cold chain capacity assessments in the demonstration project areas to prepare to transport and store HPV vaccine. Later, if countries decide to introduce the vaccine in the national EPI, they may wish to conduct national cold chain capacity assessments. Ideally, the methodology would permit district-level supervisors or their equivalent to conduct an inventory of working cold chain equipment and assess its storage volume. If required, data would then be consolidated at provincial and national level. However, if there are alternative/better approaches to this task, I would be grateful to know about them. Please direct all responses to Dr. Robin Biellik at [[email protected]][email protected][/email] Thank you very much for your kind assistance. Best regards, Robin Robin Biellik, Vaccine Introduction Manager, Immunization Solutions, PATH-Europe, France ______________________________________________________________________________ All members of the TechNet21 e-Forum are invited to send comments on any posting or to use the forum to raise a new discussion or request technical information in relation to immunization services. The comments made in this forum are the sole responsibility of the writers and do not in any way mean that they are endorsed by any of the organizations and agencies to which the authors may belong. ______________________________________________________________________________ Visit the TECHNET21 Website at http://www.technet21.org You will find instructions to subscribe, a direct access to archives, links to reference documents and other features. ______________________________________________________________________________ To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message to : mailto:[email protected] Leave the subject area BLANK In the message body, write unsubscribe TECHNET21E ______________________________________________________________________________ The World Health Organization and UNICEF support TechNet21. The TechNet21 e-Forum is a communication/information tool for generation of ideas on how to improve immunization services. It is moderated by Claude Letarte and is hosted in cooperation with the Centre de , Canada (http://www.ccisd.org) ______________________________________________________________________________