Romania together with Bosnia and Herzegovina exchange best practices on immunization
Romania together with Bosnia and Herzegovina exchange notes in COVID-19 response and best practices in immunization information systems
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania have similar health systems, similar problems, similar situations.
BUCHAREST, May 12, 2023 - In the last two years, the National Institute for Public Health (NIPH) in Romania has made significant progress in digitizing the immunization information systems. Specifically, the National Electronic Vaccination Registry (RENV), until last year operational only for the COVID-19 response, is now collecting data for and supporting the whole Romanian National Vaccination Programme. The delegation of national and regional authorities representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina that visited Romania this week wanted to learn about the systems that made the result possible as a means to raise awareness for and stimulate vaccination in their own country.
In particular, they came to learn about RENV structure and operational data flows and NIPH’s experience on building operational capacity. UNICEF in Romania has provided constant support to the immunization process in Romania and to the task force in NIPH dedicated to upgrading the vaccination registry. The latter in particular is a valuable resource to stimulate demand for vaccination. An added feature now texts parents via SMS about the next available vaccination openings for their children.
“Bosnia and Herzegovina and Romania have similar health systems, similar problems, similar situations. We only have digital systems for COVID-19 vaccination, but the NHPI system here is broader. The knowledge they gained through these years is very useful for us to resolve problems that will arise in our country. We’ve just completed procurement for the developer company and we are now thinking how the system will look specifically,” said Jela Acimovic, assistant director at the Public Health Institute in Republika Srpska.
Over two days, representatives from national and regional public health specialists and IT experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina met with specialists from NHPI and health specialists in the UNICEF in Romania office.
“Our cooperation with the UNICEF country office in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a long tradition and these activities are just a continuation of that tradition.
This electronic immunization software is something we need to improve our system. What we saw here in Bucharest, in a much larger community, is very interesting, because Bosnia Herzegovinian and Romanian society have the same issues. It is a good opportunity to share our experiences. We are going to use these experiences to be a step in front of the problems we are going to face in the next few years” said Sinisa Skocibusic, Director of the Public Health Institute in Federation BiH.
“They did a tremendous job with the RENV. The system is very well thought out, it serves its purpose. The epidemiologists involved in the development from the beginning had a very clear picture of what is necessary for each role,” said Zdravko Grubac, a representative of the Ministry of Health in Republika Srpska.
“RENV is the property and knowledge of the NIPH, a sustainable tool built to make the National Immunization Programme more effective through better data. In a moment of intensive mobilization for ambitious goals, UNICEF contributed in the capacity building with the training of 1,000 general practitioners, which creates the premises for highly targeted community interventions to boost vaccination rates,” said Oana Motea, health specialist for UNICEF Romania.
Bosnia and Herzegovina is dealing with delayed vaccination of 10 to 20 per cent in the routine immunization program, accentuated after the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in urban areas. For instance, MMR vaccination rates have now decreased to 69 per cent in Republika Srpska.
Romania’s vaccination rates for measles stood at 83 per cent for the first dose in 2022, a decrease from 98 per cent in 2000, and at 71 per cent for the second dose, down from 97.
According to a recent UNICEF report, the public perception of the importance of vaccines for children declined during the COVID-19 pandemic in 52 out of 55 countries studied, UNICEF warned today in a new report on immunization.
The State of the World’s Children 2023: For Every Child, Vaccination reveals the perception of the importance of vaccines for children declined by 10 percent in Romania after the start of the pandemic.
UNICEF/Ioana Moldovan
UNICEF/Ioana Moldovan
