Assessment of immunization data quality of routine reports in Ho municipality of Volta region, Ghana

Abstract

Background Immunization has been an important public health intervention for preventing and reducing child morbidity and mortality over the years and coverage has increased in the past decades. However, the validity of the data from immunization coverages is usually disputed. Immunization data from health facilities show poor concordance between tallied registers and monthly reports as they are reported to higher levels of the health system. The study assessed the quality of data from routine immunization of some health facilities in the Ho central municipality in the Volta region of Ghana. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was used to review routine immunization data in tallied registers and reports submitted to the Municipal Health Directorate (MHD) from January to December, 2015. Simple random sampling was used to select three health facilities in Ho central municipality. The World Health Organization (WHO) Data Quality Self-assessment (DQS) tool was the main instrument used to present and analyze data for accuracy and discrepancy level between the tallied registers and reports. A template was created in Microsoft excel which automatically presented accuracy and discrepancy levels when data was entered. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee. Results The result showed discrepancies between recounted tallies at the facilities and reports submitted to the MHD. Accuracy ratios of 102, 64 and 94% for Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG), Pentavalent (Penta) vaccine dose 3 and Measles 2 respectively indicating underreporting for BCG and over reporting for the rest were obtained. There was 460 over reported data to the municipal level representing accuracy ratio of 80% and discrepancy level of 20%. Conclusions Immunization data was characterized by underreporting and overreporting, hence not accurate and lacked quality. Immunization data quality should be a priority among health staff at health facilities.

Status of Routine Immunization Coverage in the World Health Organization African Region Three Years into the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In most countries, target populations are estimated based on projections using old and inaccurate population census data, without applying WHO recommendations on methods for assessing target population accuracy, such as comparing estimates with alternative sources, plotting, and analyzing target populations over time, and monitoring target population growth rates [39]. Assessing immunization data quality of routine reports in Ho municipality of Volta region in Ghana, Ziema et al [40] found 20% overreporting of data on children vaccinated with BCG, DTP3 and MCV2. Reasons attributable to overreporting could be arithmetic errors during monthly data compilation or deliberate overreporting to achieve high coverage to avoid queries by higher staff levels [40].…”

Status of Routine Immunization Coverage in the World Health Organization African Region Three Years into the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In most countries, target populations are estimated based on projections using old and inaccurate population census data, without applying WHO recommendations for methods for assessing target population accuracy, such as comparing estimates with alternative sources, plotting and analyzing target populations over time and monitoring target population growth rates [ 38 ]. Assessing the immunization data quality of routine reports in the Ho municipality of the Volta region in Ghana, Ziema and Asem [ 39 ] found data overreporting of 20% on children vaccinated with the BCG, DTP3 and MCV2. Reasons attributable to overreporting could be arithmetic errors during monthly data compilation or deliberate overreporting to achieve high coverage to avoid queries by higher staff levels [ 39 ].…”

“…Assessing the immunization data quality of routine reports in the Ho municipality of the Volta region in Ghana, Ziema and Asem [ 39 ] found data overreporting of 20% on children vaccinated with the BCG, DTP3 and MCV2. Reasons attributable to overreporting could be arithmetic errors during monthly data compilation or deliberate overreporting to achieve high coverage to avoid queries by higher staff levels [ 39 ]. Data quality issues leading to the over- or under-estimation of immunization coverage highlights the need to revamp the whole immunization information system.…”

WHO-Anthro Growth Standard's Effect On Quality and Data On Toddler Nutrition

“…The available information should help make decisions and solve problems until the level of problem-solving. The presence of a supervisor or a director, feedback, and improvement of human resources through training and development were parts of positive mechanisms in supporting the improvement of notification quality in order to improve their skills related to their field that the result would be helpful to make decisions in an organization (Russell, 2015;Ziema & Asem, 2020). Related to monitoring and supervising, every local clinic should directly and regularly monitor the activities in the field which a supervisor conducts, and this part became important in deciding policy related to the program of monitoring and development (Faber et al, 2009).…”