Strengthening legal frameworks for vaccination: The experiences of Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova.

Background: Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, delivers life-saving vaccines to children in the world's poorest countries and encourages countries to assume increasing ownership of their immunization programs as their economies grow. Vaccination legislation may promote country ownership and immunization program sustainability. However, despite establishment of vaccination laws as an indicator of national commitment to immunization through the Global Vaccine Action Plan, little is known about the content of vaccination legislation in low- and middle-income countries and the processes by which countries strengthen their legal frameworks.

Routes Countries Can Take To Achieve Full Ownership Of Immunization Programs.

A goal of the Global Vaccine Action Plan, led by the World Health Organization, is country ownership by 2020, defined here as the point when a country fully finances its routine immunization program with domestic resources. This article reports the progress made toward country ownership in twenty-two lower- and lower-middle-income countries engaged in the Sabin Vaccine Institute's Sustainable Immunization Financing Program. We focus on new practices developed in the key public institutions concerned with immunization financing, budget and resource tracking, and legislation, using case studies as examples.