Visit of the Kyrgyz National Immunization Technical Advisory Group at Robert Koch Institute
In fall 2023, the project SENSE convened and hosted a meeting with delegates from the Kyrgyz National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. The intent was to facilitate exchange and deliver insights into best practice approaches and current challenges in evidence-based immunisation recommendations.
Within the GHPP-project SENSE (Strengthening National Immunisation Technical Advisory Groups and their evidence-based decision making in the WHO European Region and globally), the unit FG 33 welcomed a delegation of the Kyrgyz National Immunisation Technical Advisory Group (NITAG) at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin from the 9 to 10 October 2023. The delegation consisted of staff from the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan, 12 members of the Kyrgyz NITAG and a representative of the WHO Country Office. The group aimed to discuss best practice approaches and challenges in the development of evidence-based immunisation recommendations. Another purpose of the meeting was to facilitate an evaluation of the Kyrgyz NITAG.
At the beginning of the two-day meeting, the delegation visited the RKI Museum and received an overview of Robert Koch and the history of the Institute. This visit made a lasting impression on the participants. Afterwards, there was an intensive and lively exchange on the structure of the Kyrgyz and German NITAGs. In particular, among the participants engaging in discussions were the head of FG33, the team lead of the STIKO Secretariat and the GHPP-SENSE project coordinators. A practical example of how STIKO develops vaccination recommendations with the support of the STIKO Secretariat according to the STIKO Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) was presented.
The delegates started the second day visiting the Reichstag Dome. After this outing, the project coordinators facilitated an evaluation with the Kyrgyz NITAG to identify opportunities for further work and development. In doing so, the development of an SOP for the Kyrgyz NITAG was identified to produce vaccination recommendations systematically and transparently in the future. The GHPP-SENSE project will support the NITAG in implementing this task. Thereafter, an interactive workshop took place on the systematic reviews on immunisation (Systematic Reviews on Vaccines; SYSVAC) registry, which is a global registry for systematic reviews on immunisation topics. The SENSE project will develop this registry further.
It was a very lively and mutually enriching exchange that provided insight into the existing difficulties and best practices of NITAGs.
