Summary
Philippines, a lower-middle-income country with 117.3 million people, has never been Gavi-eligible but is currently eligible for support through Gavi’s MICs Approach programme. Philippines established its National Immunization Programme (NIP) in 1976. As of 2024, ten vaccines against 12 diseases are included. The NIP services are free for children up to 5 years old, yet regional disparities in coverage persist. The coverage of DTPCV1 and DTPCV3 was less than the threshold of 90% and 85% before 2022, respectively, but it improved in 2023.
The NIP is overseen by the Department of Health (DoH), formerly supported by the National Immunization Committee (NIC), which is now under re-establishment as the national NITAG. Financing comes entirely from the government, largely through ‘sin’ tax revenues, with no reliance on out-of-pocket payments. Local government units are responsible for operational costs, and external partners, like the World Bank, have contributed funding to NIP.
Service delivery is mandated by Republic Act No. 10152, which ensures free immunization at all government hospitals and health centres. Despite clear national policies, regional inequities in immunization remain due to differences in the priorities of local governments.
Surveillance is conducted through the Philippine Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (PIDSR) system, though manual processes hinder efficiency and real-time responsiveness. The PIDSR system also contains digital data entry forms for reporting AEFI.
About NIP Country Case
The NIP country case was part of the WHO APO report Comparative analysis of the national immunization programmes in select ASEAN and SAARC countries: progress and challenges. The study was conducted by the VaxLab team in 2023-2024.
More in the report Chapter 2 (PDF Page 51/154):
https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/380387/9789290620785-eng.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Content Editor: Tianyi Deng
Page Editor: Ruitong Li
