A Review of Target Population Estimates and Implied Infant Mortality Rates from National Immunization Programmes During 2000-2010

Abstract

Because complete vital registration data often do not exist, immunization programme managers must estimate the number of children in the target population for computing immunization coverage, an important measure used to monitor immunization programme performance. This report presents information on the estimated number of live births and of surviving infants for the years 2000 – 2010 received by the World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from national immunization programmes (data received as of July 2011) and the implied in-fant mortality rate (IMR) according to national immunization programme estimates. This information is compared to ex-ternal sources. The results highlight potential challenges confronted by immunization programme managers in reporting target population estimates at the national level and shows that the estimated number of live births and surviving infants submitted to WHO and UNICEF in the Joint Reporting Form for Immunization are inconsistent with estimates from the United Nations Population Division and implied infant mortality levels are inconsistent with estimates from external sources.