Jordan, Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq should form a pooled vaccine procurement mechanism so as to negotiate collectively in purchasing vaccines, health experts said.
At a symposium Monday on new vaccines for the most common causes of pneumonia and deadly diarrhoea, experts pointed out that a procurement system joining the five countries, whose combined population totals around 60 million, would result in better deals on vaccines than if each country handles procurement on its own.
“This is not just related to negotiating better vaccine prices, but also will help with sharing information on suppliers and products and jointly requesting information from health organisations to make informed decisions [on vaccines and vaccination],” argued Miloud Kaddar, senior health economist at the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Mahendra Sheth, health adviser at UNICEF’s regional office for the Middle East and North Africa, said the five Arab countries are in a good bargaining position.
“If there will be actual efforts put together, we can start helping,” he said, explaining that UNICEF has a tender system through which the organisation can help the five countries if they present a joint tender for vaccine procurement.
Ezzeddine Mohsni, coordinator of diseases surveillance, elimination and eradication at the WHO’s Eastern Mediterranean regional office, said Monday’s meeting should lead to active work, urging health officials from the five countries to “stop talking about the science and move to implementation”.
Najwa Khuri-Bulos, dean of research at the University of Jordan (UJ) and head of the division for infectious diseases at UJ Hospital, who chaired the meeting’s scientific committee, said health experts from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq should develop a detailed work plan for forming a joint vaccine procurement mechanism.
“If we crystallise all the work we’ve done here and show up in March at the Arab health ministers’ meeting with a clear roadmap for a joint project, we’ll be able to talk money,” she told The Jordan Times.
“We must show decision makers that investing in health increases the wealth of nations, as healthy people become more productive,” she noted, citing the Kingdom’s National Immunisation Programme as an example that “saves 10 times what we spend on it”.
Monday’s symposium was held to discuss the importance of a new vaccine for the most common type of pneumonia (pneumococcal disease) and the rotavirus vaccine, which protects against the most common cause of deadly diarrhoea.
More than 15,000 children under the age of five fall victim every year to pneumonia and diarrhoea in Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria combined, according to a statement released by the organisers.
The Ministry of Health organised the event in cooperation with UJ and international health institutions.
Jordan Times