UAE seeks creative ways to upgrade national immunisation programme

Dubai: In conjunction with the World Immunisation Week, the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP) organised a brainstorming session to develop a roadmap to upgrade the national immunisation programme and sustain achievements in accordance with the best innovative scientific methods by strengthening all capabilities to ensure high vaccination rates across the country.

The workshop also aimed to generate creative ideas in the field of vaccinations with the participation of immunisation, public health, and healthcare experts from supervisory and technical bodies to analyse the current landscape, review strengths, identify challenges, and develop action plans to achieve national indicators of prevention and immunisation.

Saqr Al Hemeiri, Director of Strategy and the Future, and Dr Laila Al Jasmi, Head of the Immunisation Department, as well as various representatives from health authorities attended the workshop.

Creative solutions

During his addresss, Al Hemeiri stated the goal of the session was to generate innovative ideas and solutions to increase vaccine coverage, while achieving health care quality indicators according to the highest standards of excellence and professionalism and achieve leadership in preventive health. “This [maximum vaccine coverage] can be accomplished by providing basic and booster vaccinations in accordance with the national immunisation programme, to prevent and eliminate infectious diseases, as well as increasing coverage rates to ensure the best results,” he added.

Al Hemeiri maintained that the ministry is constantly coordinating with partners and implementing global best practices, while providing vaccinations to ensure the safety of vaccines administrated to children and all segments of society.

Creating more awareness

Furthermore, Dr Nada Al Marzouqi, Director of the Public Health and Prevention Department, highlighted the importance of spreading awareness and intensifying educational activities about the importance of vaccinations, in addition to strengthening healthcare workers’ skills in compliance with the latest global recommendations in the field of vaccines, while focusing on raising vaccination coverage.

Al Marzouqi emphasised that the UAE’s past governance success, and the country’s global leadership in the field of vaccinations, would not have been possible had it not been for the support of its wise leadership.

She added that this is a source of inspiration and a catalyst for further improving the immunization system and enhancing its pro-activeness and sustainability in order to protect the UAE people’s health and safety and achieve health goals.

Developing immunisation policy

Speaking during the session, Dr Laila Al Jasmi said: “The workshop included a brainstorming session to come up with creative ideas that support ongoing efforts to develop the vaccination policy, maintain vaccination coverage rates, keep abreast of global developments in the field of vaccinations, and promote public awareness.”

Expressing her pleasure at the conclusion of the session, Dr Al Jasmi said that the event had been productive and achieved the desired objectives of developing immunisation indicators, initiatives, and action plans.

She added that this, in turn, will be instrumental in the development of a health immunisation system against vaccine-targeted diseases, to support indicators of preventive health and the quality of health care.