Protecting Vaccines to Protect Children: UNICEF and NORTEC Launch a Nationwide Campaign to Strengthen Vaccine Storage and Delivery

NDOLA, Copperbelt Province, 13 February 2026 – In a major step toward safeguarding every child’s right to life‑saving vaccines, the Ministry of Health—together with UNICEF, Gavi and the Northern Technical College (NORTEC)—today launched a nationwide campaign in Ndola, celebrating newly trained and graduated Cold Chain technicians, and kicking off an ambitious effort to safely phase out obsolete cold chain equipment and strengthen vaccine reliability across Zambia.

This initiative aims to reinforce equipment functionality by targeting more than 800 units across the country that are posing risks to service quality and environmental safety.

“The MOH and UNICEF partnership with Northern Technical College (NORTEC)  and the launch of the National Maintenance Campaign mark a significant milestone in Zambia’s journey toward a fully functional and sustainable immunization supply chain. By equipping our district and provincial technicians with advanced skills in cold chain and solar system maintenance, we are building a national workforce capable of ensuring that every vaccine reaches every child, safely and on time,'' said the Permanent Secretary for Copperbelt Province, Mr. Lawrence Mwanza.

Reliable cold chain systems are essential for preserving vaccine potency and supporting effective primary health care. Zambia has long faced challenges related to obsolete or outdated equipment and limited cold chain maintenance capacity, particularly in rural and underserved districts. These gaps contribute to missed vaccination opportunities, including among children who have particularly low vaccination rates making systematic, reliable national maintenance systems an urgent priority.

The ceremony, organized by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with UNICEF, Gavi, and NORTEC, brought together senior government officials, technical specialists, lecturers, and student trainees. The campaign launch underscores Zambia’s commitment to strengthen the national immunization supply chain and ensure reliable delivery of vaccines to every child, right to the last mile.

“This initiative marks a deliberate will to shift from short-term, ad hoc solutions to institutionalized and sustainable national technical capacity that ensures immunization reaches more people, and more effectively. With approximately 400 cold chain equipment units undergoing decommissioning, Zambia is among the first countries in Africa to institutionalize this practice, protecting service quality, environmental safety, and long-term system efficiency,'' stated Dr. Saja Farooq Abdullah, UNICEF Zambia Representative.

NORTEC serves also as one of key Zambia’s specialized training, certification, and continuous professional development in cold chain management. This is aligned with the objectives of the national Primary Health Care Strategy (2025–2030) and supports the goals of the Big Catch-Up (BCU) programme's agenda, which aims at recovering vaccination rates to pre-Covid-19 pandemic's levels.

“At NORTEC, our mandate is clear: we exist to provide practical, industry-relevant training that responds to national needs. The advanced refrigeration and solar systems training programme supported by UNICEF and the Ministry of Health speaks directly to this mandate. Let me reaffirm NORTEC's commitment to working with other ministries and partners to build strong technical capacity that delivers real results for the country”, explained NORTEC Principal, Eng. Martin Kasonso.

Through this partnership with NORTEC: A total of 126 districts and provincial technicians have completed advanced training in cold chain and solar system maintenance, paving the ground to a ready-to-be-deployed national workforce. To date, more than 800 cold chain units across the country will benefit from preventive and corrective maintenance, and approximately 400 obsolete units are under the process of safe decommissioning in line with technical and environmental standards. UNICEF is also supporting the distribution of 130 maintenance toolkits to enhance district-level response capacity.

The campaign will kick-start a nationwide effort to expand training cohorts and continue the safe decommissioning of outdated equipment. Additional partner support will be needed to strengthen training infrastructure, upgrade laboratories, enhance digital learning platforms, and expand technical capacity to meet growing national and regional demand.

Note to Editors:

Zambia's Primary Health Care Strategy (2025–2030) aims to strengthen the health system through Primary Health Care (PHC) as the backbone of service delivery. It focuses on improving health outcomes, especially in rural and hard‑to‑reach communities, by enhancing access to care, facility readiness, and outreach-based services. A key component includes infrastructure development to support PHC services.

The Big Catch-Up (BCU) programme, initiated by UNICEF and supported by WHO, Gavi, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aims to recover and strengthen global immunization systems following declines caused by the COVID‑19 pandemic. It focuses on reaching children who missed routine immunizations and restoring global coverage levels.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Joshua Njamba, Copperbelt Provincial Health Office, Media, [email protected]

Rabecca Chipanta, Public Relations and Placement Office, NORTEC, [email protected]

Sarah Talon Sampieri, Advocacy & Communications Officer, UNICEF Zambia, [email protected]