The recently held Vaccine Wastage Study workshop was a tremendous success. The workshop shared the results of the Vaccine Wastage Study from two regions of the Gambia and the Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) survey with all the stakeholders involved in the Expanded Programme on immunisation. The workshop took place on 15th June 2017, at the Bray Lecture Theatre, in Fajara. The workshop was jointly facilitated by MRCG and Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) staff including; Dr Effua Usuf, Principal Investigator, Mr Lamin Ceesay, Logistics, Officer EPI and Dr Anna Roca, Theme Coordinator Disease Control & Elimination.

This one-day workshop was well attended by over 50 participants from across the nation and included representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations International, Children's Education Fund (UNICEF), the Director of Health Services, the EPI unit and regional health teams. Representatives of teams and selected facilities that participated in the study were also in attendance. During the workshop, participants took part in various interactive sessions which included group discussions, a refresher training on calculating vaccine wastage, the importance of record keeping and dealing with specific local problems.

The workshop gave stakeholders a wide range of information on the outcome of the study focusing on the types of vaccine wastage for the different vaccines in the EPI schedule. Monitoring vaccine wastage is a good indicator of the quality of our immunisation service.

At the end of the day, the participants expressed their appreciation to be part of such a workshop, which was a really good way to share the results of the study. They made recommendations on the way forward including a decision that all facilities should calculate vaccine wastage regularly at least once every quarter. The recommendations will be shared with the central national EPI team.