International Association of Immunization Managers Holds Inaugural Regional Meeting

Broad participation expected among members from the Middle East and Africa

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The International Association of Immunization Managers (IAIM) Secretariat, based at the Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin), today announced it will hold its first-ever regional meeting for members from the Middle East and Africa on September 25-26, 2014 in Durban, South Africa.

The meeting will provide IAIM members — immunization managers and other health professionals — with a unique opportunity to share their experiences and challenges with supporting national and regional immunization programs. They also will engage in peer-to-peer dialogues and networking sessions to exchange best practices and lessons learned in order to improve the impact of their programs.

“The inaugural meeting is a notable milestone for immunization programs and indeed history in the making. For the first time, immunization managers have their own association to exchange their experiences and share knowledge on management issues that are important for organizing and implementing successful vaccination programs,” said Dr. K. O. Antwi-Agyei, immediate past national program manager of Ghana’s Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and member of IAIM’s ad hoc Governing Council.

More than 50 participants are expected to participate. Representatives in Sub-Saharan Africa will join from Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mali, Niger and South Africa. In the Middle East and North Africa, delegates will come from Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. A representative from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) will also attend.

“We are excited that our membership base from the Middle East and North and Sub-Saharan Africa will meet for the first time,” said Dr. Peter Carrasco, director of the IAIM Secretariat at Sabin. “This meeting provides them a chance to learn from each other, on topics such as valuable management lessons and best practices. This meaningful discussion can bring about innovations that can help them meet wide-ranging goals of immunization programs. Members will also have an opportunity to shape IAIM for the future.”

Presentations and discussions will focus on the role of immunization managers, core competencies, cases studies on successful management decision-making in the WHO’s EPI, and the importance and use of data analysis in supplementary immunization activities. The representative from WHO-AFRO will present the 2014-2020 Strategic Plan for Immunization. The full agenda can be found at http://www.iaim.org/AFRO&EMRORegionalMeeting2014/agenda.

About the International Association of Immunization Managers

The International Association of Immunization Managers (IAIM) is the first-ever international association for immunization managers. IAIM is a membership organization whose objectives are to establish a forum where immunization managers can discuss and exchange best practices; build and support international and regional networks of immunization managers; and provide immunization managers with opportunities to develop their technical and leadership capacity. IAIM is currently governed by an ad hoc Governing Council composed of 13 members, and its Secretariat is based at the Sabin Vaccine Institute. For more information, please visit http://www.iaimanagers.org/.

About the Sabin Vaccine Institute

The Sabin Vaccine Institute (Sabin) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization of scientists, researchers and advocates dedicated to reducing needless human suffering from vaccine-preventable and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Since its founding in 1993 in honor of Dr. Albert B. Sabin, the developer of the oral polio vaccine, Sabin has been at the forefront of global efforts to eliminate, prevent and cure infectious and neglected tropical diseases.

Sabin develops new vaccines, advocates for increased use of existing vaccines and promotes expanded access to affordable medical treatments in collaboration with governments, academic institutions, scientists, medical professionals and other non-profit organizations. For more information, please visit www.sabin.org.