An important step that countries can take to encourage well-informed decision making regarding immunization is to establish a group of national experts to advise the Ministry of Health. So far, most industrialized countries and some developing countries have already constituted National Immunization Technical Advisory Groups (NITAGs) to guide check details immunization policies [1], while other countries are currently working towards the establishment of NITAGs. The aim of the Supporting Independent Immunization and Vaccine Advisory Committees (SIVAC) Initiative is to help countries establish or strengthen NITAGs. This support is provided in middle-income

countries and in countries that are eligible for support from the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI). The main role of NITAGs is to help health authorities formulate immunization policies according to the specific needs of their country, while taking into account the regional and international context. In addition to supporting countries directly, SIVAC also contributes to activities and products that can benefit a wider range Selleck Roxadustat of countries. This project, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is led by the French agency Agence de Médecine Préventive (AMP), in partnership with the International Vaccine Institute (IVI) of Seoul, Republic of Korea (Table 1), and in collaboration with the

World Health Organization (WHO) through its headquarters and regional

and country offices. The SIVAC team is composed of a program director, a program manager and a program officer based in Paris, France; a coordinator for Asia based in Seoul, Republic of Korea; and a coordinator for West Africa based in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The principal investigator of the SIVAC Initiative is AMP’s scientific director. There are many other contributors to the project, including technical staff from AMP with specialties in epidemiology, training and communications, health economics, immunization logistics, and vaccine cold chain, as well as IVI staff and consultants not with expertise in translational research and epidemiology. The SIVAC Initiative also benefits from the input of the members of its External Technical Advisory Panel (ETAP). This advisory panel is composed of eleven members, all from different countries, who were selected for their expertise and for their active participation in the establishment and implementation of immunization policies and programs at the national, regional, and international level. Their roles are to advise the SIVAC team and to provide input concerning strategic directions for the project. Initiated in April 2008, the project is planned to end in April 2015. Initially, SIVAC’s objective was to assist in establishing NITAGs in six GAVI-eligible countries in Africa and six GAVI-eligible countries in Asia.