# 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.

## Key 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.

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/1907.13434