An embedded implementation research initiative to tackle service delivery bottlenecks in the expanded programme on immunisation in Pakistan: Overview and reflections

Embedded implementation research (IR) can play a critical role in health systems strengthening by tackling systems and implementation bottlenecks of a program. To achieve this aim, with the financial support of GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, in 2016, the Government of Pakistan, UNICEF and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research (AHPSR) launched an Embedded IR for Immunisation Initiative (the Initiative) to explore health systems and implementation bottlenecks, and potential strategies to tackle such bottlenecks in the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in Pakistan. In total, 10 research teams were involved in the Initiative, which was the first of its kind in the country. In this paper, we provided a brief overview of the Initiative’s approach as well as the key learnings including challenges and successes of the research teams which could inform future embedded IR Initiatives.

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Shahabuddin, A. S. M., A. Sharkey, F. Khalid, K. Rasanathan, A. Hasman, N. Tran, A. Durrani, K. Ongwae, R. Duncan, K. A. Ahmed, S. Farrukh, P. Rutter, D. Jackson, A. Hafeez, S. Swartling Peterson, A. Ghaffar (2021) An embedded implementation research initiative to tackle service delivery bottlenecks in the expanded programme on immunisation in Pakistan: Overview and reflections. Journal of Global Health 11. doi: 10.7189/jogh.11.06003