Higher immunization rates and greater access to vaccines are saving six lives per minute in Zimbabwe.
Thanks to partnerships with global health organizations such as Gavi, UNICEF, and WHO, a massive national immunization program was mobilized that has educated communities on the importance of vaccines, expanded the capacities of health facilities, administered vaccines to both children and mothers, and trained health care workers on proper administration.
As of 2008, Zimbabwe had a neonatal mortality rate – the death of a newborn within the first 28 days of life – of 33 deaths per 1,000 live births, almost twice the global average. The nation also lost 93.33 children out of every 1,000 before the age of five, partly due to a lack of core vaccine administration. A decade and a half later, both numbers have declined, with the neonatal mortality rate decreasing to 24.26 and deaths under five declining to 47.73 as of 2022. “There have been significant investments in the Expanded Program on Immunization. The government will continue to aim to reach out to everyone everywhere with life-saving vaccines in the spirit of leaving no one behind,” adds Dr Aspect Maunganidze, Health and Child Care Secretary for the Government of Zimbabwe.
