Reaching the unreached with life-saving vaccines through data science and geospatial technologies
Each year, approximately 6 million of the 20 million children born in West and Central Africa
miss out on life-saving vaccines during their first year of life, sometimes called ‘zero-dose
children’. UNICEF’s ‘Reach the Unreached’ initiative aims to improve child vaccination coverage
data by pairing efforts in strengthening administrative systems with innovative probability
models and alternative data sources to provide geolocated vaccination estimates. However,
incorporating multiple probability models and data sources brings new challenges, such as
potential biases and inconsistencies. This article highlights a recent pilot designed to equip
programme teams with actionable insights to navigate these discrepancies in vaccination
coverage estimates.
