GNN webinars: NITAGs in Middle income countries and modelling needs assessment study results 

With the support of technet, the GNN is organizing a webinar to update NITAGs on two projects led by WHO and involving participation of NITAGs:
1) Almost all the countries have now established functional NITAGs to guide their immunization policies and programs. However, if GAVI-Eligible Countries benefits from partners’ support to strengthen their NITAGs, NITAGs in Middle-Income Countries (MICs) seems to find themselves quite alone to overcome some specific issues and challenges they face. The WHO-with support from Development Catalysts-conducted a survey to identify the successes, issues and challenges around the decision-making processes of those MICs NITAGs.
2) WHO established a working group in 2023 to develop guidance to assist vaccination decision makers to use modelled evidence. To inform the guidance delivery and content, it is important understand the needs of end users. This presentation will summarise findings from 14 in-depth interviews with vaccination decision-makers and modellers from all WHO regions and across low-, middle- and high-income countries. The presentation will cover: (i) How modelling is understood and used by decision-makers, if at all; (ii) the challenges faced by end-users in using modelled evidence; (iii) the types of guidance would be most useful to enhance the use of modelled evidence. Insights from this study are being integrated into the development of the guidance.