An increase in vaccine coverage in Africa is helping protect millions of people from life-threatening diseases such as measles, polio and cervical cancer.

In 2023, vaccination saved at least 1.8 million lives in the African region, nearly half the global figure of 4.2 million. These advancements have been possible thanks to government efforts and the support from partners including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO) and others.

More than 5 million ‘zero-dose’ children – children who have not received a single dose of an essential routine vaccine – in the African region have been vaccinated since 2024 through the “Big Catch-Up" initiative launched in 2023 in 20 priority countries, protecting communities from vaccine-preventable outbreaks, saving children’s lives and strengthening national health systems.

Despite a growing birth cohort between 2022 and 2023, the African region recorded a two-percentage-point increase in the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP3) immunization coverage among one-year-olds, from 72% to 74%, an important sign of recovery in routine immunization services post-COVID-19. This progress means that amid a rising number of births, governments are vaccinating more children each year than ever before. Notable gains were seen in Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda.