VACCINE SURVEILLANCE - PACHI Malawi

Following the introduction of the new childhood pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccine in Malawi, PACHI’s MaiMwana research and development programme, in partnership with Welcome through Liverpool University has a vaccine surveillance project to measure impact of vaccination on child mortality and disease burden on 1-year survival among all live births.

The 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-13) and monovalent rotavirus vaccine (RV1) were introduced to the routine infant vaccine schedule in Malawi in November 2011 and October 2012 respectively. Evidence relating to their effectiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa is needed, especially their impact on mortality.

We are conducting a prospective cohort study in Mchinji district to investigate the impact of these vaccines on all-cause and cause-specific mortality in children aged between 10 weeks and 1 year. We run a community-based vital events surveillance system, recording all births and deaths of children under the age of 5. We follow all children at 4 months and 1 year to record vaccination and socio-economic status. For all children who die, we conduct a verbal autopsy to ascertain cause of death.

To date, we have recorded over 50,000 births and 4,000 deaths, in a district of approximately 450,000 residents.

Vaccine Surveillance journals;