Pan American Health Organization, Family and Community Health Area, Immunization Unit, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
Rev Panam Salud Publica. 2009 Nov;26(5):398-404. doi: 10.1590/s1020-49892009001100003.
Reducing and eliminating vaccine-preventable diseases requires evidence-based and informed policy decision making. Critical to determining the functionality of the decision-making process for introduction of a new vaccine is understanding the role of the national immunization technical advisory group (ITAG) in each country. The aim of this study is to document the current situation of national level immunization policy decision making for use in the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) ProVac Initiative.
A structured 66-variable questionnaire developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the University of Ottawa was distributed to all WHO regions; it was composed of dichotomous, multiple-choice, and open-ended questions. Questionnaires were e-mailed or faxed to the six WHO regional offices and the offices distributed them to all member states. This paper analyzes surveys from the Americas as part of PAHO's ProVac Initiative.
Twenty-nine countries of the Americas answered the survey. They conveyed that immunization policy making needed to be improved and further supported by organizations such as PAHO. Areas of improvement ranged from organization and technical support to strengthening capacity and infrastructure to improved coordination among stakeholders. This survey also highlighted a variety of ITAG processes that need further investigation.
This survey supports the efforts of PAHO's ProVac Initiative to disseminate knowledge and best practices for an immunization policy decision-making framework through the development of clear definitions and guidelines. By highlighting each problem noted in this study, ProVac will assist countries in Latin America and the Caribbean to build national capacity for making evidence-based decisions about introduction of new vaccines.
减少和消除可预防疾病需要基于证据和明智的政策决策。了解国家免疫技术咨询小组（ITAG）在每个国家中的作用，对于确定新疫苗引入决策过程的功能至关重要。本研究旨在记录用于泛美卫生组织（PAHO）ProVac 计划的国家免疫政策决策的现状。
世界卫生组织（WHO）与渥太华大学合作制定了一份包含 66 个变量的结构化问卷，并分发给所有世卫组织区域；问卷由二项式、多项选择和开放式问题组成。问卷通过电子邮件或传真发送到六个世卫组织区域办事处，然后由各办事处分发给所有成员国。本文分析了来自美洲的调查结果，这是 PAHO 的 ProVac 计划的一部分。
美洲的 29 个国家回答了调查。他们表示，免疫政策制定需要得到改进，并得到泛美卫生组织等组织的进一步支持。改进领域包括组织和技术支持、加强能力和基础设施以及改善利益相关者之间的协调。这项调查还突出了各种需要进一步调查的 ITAG 流程。
这项调查支持 PAHO 的 ProVac 计划，通过制定明确的定义和准则，传播免疫政策决策框架的知识和最佳实践。通过突出本研究中指出的每个问题，ProVac 将帮助拉丁美洲和加勒比地区的国家建立制定新疫苗引入的基于证据的决策的国家能力。
