Tanzania Expanded Programme on Immunization

Tanzania's national childhood vaccination program, established in 1975 with the introduction of polio, measles and tetanus toxoid vaccination alongside the country's existing tuberculosis immunization effort. The Expanded Programme on Immunization was restructured administratively in 1996, when the country's Health Sector Reform placed it as a subsection of the Reproductive and Child Health Section within the Ministry of Health's Preventive Services Department, and its performance improved markedly after Tanzania began receiving support from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, in 2001, with national coverage rising from 79 percent in 2000 to 94 percent by 2004. The program continues to deliver Tanzania's routine childhood immunization schedule today, coordinated nationally while implemented through the country's regional and district health system.