Qualitative study on the political economy of financing traditional vaccines and vitamin A supplements in six African countries

A qualitative study exploring political economy variables of actors’ interests, roles, power and commitment to ensure government financing of non-Gavi financed vaccines and vitamin A supplementation has been published in Health Policy and Planning. A total of 77 interviews were conducted in Burundi, Comoros, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The authors found that while governments and development partners had similar interests, donor commitment to vaccines and vitamin A supplementation was sometimes dependent on the priorities and political situation of the donor country. Barriers identified for Government financing were political instability, health sector inefficiencies, overly complicated bureaucracy, frequent changes of health sector leadership and non-health competing needs.