Using the decision-making framework tool
A range of stakeholders in African countries are using the planning tool to gather data and put processes in place for timely malaria vaccine decisions. To get started, stakeholders:
- Initiate discussions with national malaria control and immunization programs. Ultimately, malaria vaccine policy decisions would need to involve these two entities.
- Set up a working group of national experts. The working group would supervise data-gathering and liaise with decision-makers, and it would be jointly established by the malaria control and immunization communities. The group could either build on or become a sub-set of a structure that already exists, such as a research working group for malaria or a technical group within an immunization program for introduction of new vaccines.
- Ensure broad-based membership of the working group. The group would ideally include expert or professional bodies, such as national medical, pediatric, and nursing associations. The group would be established early—several years before expected licensure—so that it would be prepared to offer expert recommendations to decision-makers at the time of licensure and remain in place up to and even beyond vaccine introduction.
- Establish roles and responsibilities for members of the working group. Roles would be guided by a shared vision to facilitate prompt decision-making on malaria vaccine introduction at the appropriate time.