Evaluating the health impact of a public-private partnership

The purpose of this article is to describe the RotaTeq(®) Nicaragua Partnership and the evaluation of the public health impact of the vaccine conducted by the partners, including the creation of a rotavirus surveillance program and a vaccine effectiveness assessment. The three main objectives of the partnership were to demonstrate that a new rotavirus vaccine could (1) be introduced rapidly in a developing country, (2) be successfully integrated into the existing vaccine delivery infrastructure, and (3) have a significant and measurable public health impact at the end of the 3-y program. The vaccine impact assessment required collaboration among partners with different areas of expertise, including the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health, Merck, local hospitals, government health clinics, laboratories, and a Technical Advisory Group. Through the partnership, RotaTeq(®) became available in a GAVI-eligible developing country, Nicaragua, in the same year it was approved in the United States. Vaccine coverage rapidly reached over > 90% of eligible Nicaraguan children. The impact assessment evaluated over 10,000 subjects and leveraged and enhanced the existing diarrheal surveillance infrastructure, ultimately providing the scientific community with some of the first real-world rotavirus vaccine effectiveness data from a developing country. The successful public-private partnership (PPP) was internationally recognized as a model for the rapid adoption of a new vaccine in a developing world setting. The model could be adapted to benefit other PPPs interested in demonstrating the impact of their own programs.