The JMIR Public Health and Surveillance article The Impact of War in Yemen on Immunization Coverage of Children Under One Year of Age examines how the 2015 conflict affected childhood vaccination coverage in Yemen. The study analyzes national Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) data from 2012–2015, comparing vaccine coverage nationally and across governorates affected and less affected by armed confrontations.
Key Insights
National vaccination coverage remained below Yemen’s 95% target throughout the study period.
Penta-3 coverage increased from 82% in 2012 to 88% in 2014, before falling to 84% in 2015.
Measles vaccination coverage fell more sharply, from 75% in 2014 to 66% in 2015. BCG coverage also dropped from 73% to 49%.
Only 2,577 of Yemen’s 3,096 vaccination sites reported providing vaccination services in 2015.
Governorates experiencing armed confrontations were most affected. Taiz’s penta-3 coverage fell from 92.5% in 2014 to 73.3% in 2015, while Sa’dah declined from 65.6% to 49.9%.
Some less conflict-affected governorates recorded increases because of population displacement. Coverage reached 105.6% in Raymah and 101.0% in Ibb in 2015, suggesting that population estimates did not fully capture displacement.
The authors link declining immunization coverage to damaged health infrastructure, insecurity, reduced access to services and disruption of vaccination delivery.
The study recommends innovative vaccine-delivery approaches, rebuilding health infrastructure, decentralized funding and stronger EPI capacity, particularly in conflict-affected governorates.
