Guidance for developing a national immunization strategy (NIS)

Overview

The National Immunization Strategy (NIS) is a streamlined planning document that focuses on a strategic period of 5 years. Specifically, the NIS defines:

1. The immunization vision to be achieved over the long term (generally 10 years).
2. Specific objectives to be achieved at the end of the strategic period (5 years). These are the intermediate outcomes along the way to achieving the vision.
3. Priority strategies, consisting of a costed set of interventions to achieve the objectives, as well as the measures to mitigate against risks associated with the selected interventions.

The NIS is intended for use by the following key stakeholders at the national level:

• country-level decision-makers at all levels (national and subnational) in the health sector and other government sectors, including the Ministry of Finance (MoF);
• national immunization programme (NIP) managers;
• immunization partners at the national, regional and global levels (e.g. WHO, UNICEF) and local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs);
• policy-making bodies at national and subnational levels, such as the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG); and
• entities that coordinate the immunization and health activities of countries, such as the Interagency Coordination Committee (ICC) and/or the Health Sector Coordination Committee (HSCC).