In May 2026, the Ministry of Health, National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD), the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and partners conducted a comprehensive review of Mongolia’s immunization programme to assess programme performance and identify priorities for strengthening immunization services anchored on health system resilience. The review assessed financing, service delivery, workforce capacity, immunization coverage, surveillance systems, vaccine safety monitoring, cold chain management and community engagement.
The review affirmed that Mongolia has established a strong immunization platform characterized by sustained government commitment, a public-funded vaccine procurement, reliable vaccine supply systems, a modern national cold chain, and an electronic immunization registry. The programme demonstrated notable resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing measles outbreak, maintaining routine immunization services without interruption.
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The Ministry of Health, NCCD, WHO, UNICEF and partners conducted a comprehensive review of Mongolia’s immunization programme to identify priorities for strengthening immunization services and health system resilience. © WHO Mongolia
At the same time, the review identified several strategic priorities that will be critical for sustaining progress and addressing emerging challenges, including strengthening long-term planning and resource mobilization to ensure programme sustainability in the context of increasing vaccine costs and declining external support. While financing for vaccine procurement has largely been secured, the review highlighted significant funding gaps in core public health functions that underpin programme performance and resilience.
Sustained investment is needed in workforce development, vaccine-preventable disease surveillance, adverse events following immunization (AEFI) monitoring, risk communication and community engagement, cold chain maintenance, information systems, and preparedness for future vaccine introductions. Addressing these gaps will be critical to maintaining high coverage, strengthening outbreak preparedness and response, and ensuring equitable access to immunization services.
A major strategic priority emerging from the review is the stronger integration of immunization services within primary health care (PHC). Rapid urbanization, internal migration and population mobility are creating challenges in identifying, tracking and vaccinating children, contributing to immunity gaps and increasing the risk of outbreaks. The review calls for strengthening people-centred, PHC-oriented immunization services that can effectively reach mobile, migrant and underserved populations.
Recommended actions include expanding outreach and catch-up vaccination strategies, improving continuity of care across administrative boundaries, and enhancing interoperability between the electronic immunization registry and other health and population information systems to support better tracking of under-vaccinated children and more effective programme management.
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Participants share findings and recommendations as the EPI and HPV PIE review teams consolidate results from field missions across provinces and urban districts. © WHO Mongolia
The review also emphasized the need to strengthen data quality, data use and programme intelligence. While Mongolia has established a strong foundation through its electronic immunization registry, further investments are needed to improve data quality, denominator estimation, automated reporting, dashboard functionality, and the use of integrated data for decision-making. Strengthening coverage validation and triangulating immunization, surveillance and outbreak data will help identify immunity gaps more accurately and support targeted interventions. In parallel, the review underscored the importance of building institutional capacity to address misinformation, strengthen social listening systems, and maintain public confidence in vaccines in an increasingly complex information environment.
The findings provide an evidence-based roadmap for strengthening programme resilience, improving equity, and ensuring that Mongolia’s immunization programme remains responsive to evolving public health challenges while protecting future generations from vaccine-preventable diseases.