Optimizing vaccine distribution networks in low and middle-income countries

TL;DR

This paper develops a new algorithm for designing efficient vaccine distribution networks in low and middle-income countries, addressing large-scale problems to improve global immunization coverage.

Contribution

It formulates the vaccine distribution network design as a mixed integer program and introduces a novel algorithm capable of solving large problems quickly.

Findings

Algorithm finds high-quality solutions within minutes for large problems.

Tested on data from four sub-Saharan African countries.

Improves efficiency of vaccine distribution planning.

Abstract

Vaccination has been proven to be the most effective method to prevent infectious diseases. However, there are still millions of children in low and middle-income countries who are not covered by routine vaccines and remain at risk. The World Health Organization - Expanded Programme on Immunization (WHO-EPI) was designed to provide universal childhood vaccine access for children across the world and in this work, we address the design of the distribution network for WHO-EPI vaccines. In particular, we formulate the network design problem as a mixed integer program (MIP) and present a new algorithm for typical problems that are too large to be solved using commercial MIP software. We test the algorithm using data derived from four different countries in sub-Saharan Africa and show that the algorithm is able to obtain high-quality solutions for even the largest problems within a few minutes.