Zero-dose costing research principles released

We are pleased to announce the publication of research principles for studies that aim to estimate the cost of reaching zero-dose children. This document is the result of a consultative process that involved the Gavi Secretariat, WHO, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ThinkWell, CDC, JSI, VillageReach, PATH, Boston University, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Levin & Morgan LLC, and the University of Montreal. This document was developed following a meeting last April, where a group of key immunization costing stakeholders came together to discuss methods, approaches, and challenges in estimating the cost of reaching zero-dose children. The group agreed that alignment on research principles was needed to guide implementation of costing work in this area, to be able to better compare and interpret evidence across this body of work.

The research principles have been developed to serve the following purpose of zero-dose costing work:

• To inform country- and global-level planning, budgeting, and funding guidelines to reduce the prevalence of zero-dose children
• To support cost-effectiveness and other post-hoc analyses of zero-dose interventions
• To inform trade-offs when designing a strategy to comprehensively tackle the zero-dose challenge
• To define all costs involved in reaching zero-dose children
• To compare the incremental costs of reaching zero-dose children under different conditions and in different settings, using specific packages of interventions

To find out more about ongoing work on the economics of reaching zero-dose children, browse our zero-dose economics page here.