Improving the efficiency and standards of a National Immunization Program Review: lessons learnt from United Republic of Tanzania

Lyimo, Dafrossa; Kamugisha, Christopher; Yohana, Emmanuel; Eshetu, Messeret; Wallace, Aaron S.; Ward, Kirsten; Mantel, Carsten; Hennessey, Karen

doi:10.11604/pamj.2017.28.209.10466

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…To overcome the above-mentioned challenges with paper-based approach, there has been an attempt to use data collection applications on smartphones and tablets in the conduct of EPI Review in Tanzania in the year 2015. This attempt met with challenges, which include, time to translate the tools into mobile application, difficulty in transmitting data due to poor internet services, and timing for training 6 . The use of such technology is not only limited to surveys but has been used in various clinical settings.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of Mobile Phone Data Collection in the Conduct EPI Comprehensive Review in East and Southern African Countries

Bello

Umar²,

Akpan³

et al. 2021

J Immunol Sci

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Mobile phone data collection tools are increasingly becoming very usable collecting, collating and analysing data in the health sector. In this paper, we documented the experiences with mobile phone data collection, collation and analysis in 5 countries of the East and Southern African, using Open Data Kit (ODK), where questionnaires were designed and coded on an XML form, uploaded and data collected using Android-Based mobile phones, with a web-based system to monitor data in real-time during EPI comprehensive review. The ODK interface supports in real-time monitoring of the flow of data, detection of missing or incomplete data, coordinate location of all locations visited, embedded charts for basic analysis. It also minimized data quality errors at entry level with the use of validation codes and constraint developed into the checklist. These benefits, combined with the improvement that mobile phones offer over paper-based in terms of timeliness, data loss, collation, and real-time data collection, analysis and uploading difficulties, make mobile phone data collection a feasible method of data collection that needs to be further explored in the conduct of all surveys in the organization.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of Mobile Phone Data Collection in the Conduct EPI Comprehensive Review in East and Southern African Countries

Bello

Umar²,

Akpan³

et al. 2021

J Immunol Sci

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“…These program reviews, conducted every 4 to 5 years, constitute a holistic assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the immunisation program at national, sub-national and service-delivery levels. The reviews are done with the participation of various technical partners and provide the evidence to align the immunisation program´s strategic directions and priority activities which are then translated into comprehensive Multi Year Plans (cMYP), and subsequent annual program plans, and as advocacy tools to reinforce the engagement of the leadership within the respective Ministries of Health [ 9 , 10 ]. Countries supported with Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) funding undertake annual joint appraisal exercises with a focus on grant monitoring and overall progress towards program goals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immunisation program reviews in East and Southern Africa. 2012-2018; key lessons

Shibeshi¹,

Masresha²,

Daniel³

2021

Pan Afr Med J

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Introduction the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that countries conduct comprehensive national immunisation program reviews regularly to help them identify systems wide-barriers or gaps and monitor performance against the set targets. Methods we reviewed reports from the latest national immunisation program reviews conducted in the 20 countries in the sub-region in the course of 2012-2018. We generated descriptive analysis of the findings across the sub-region. Results the 20 program reviews included field observations to the subnational levels as well as interviews with program staff and stakeholders. At the time of the reviews, only 11 countries had functional National Immunisation Technical Advisory Groups. Operational funding was inadequate in half of the countries. The reviews documented the cancellation of outreach services, supportive supervision visits and maintenance of cold chain equipment due to the lack of fuel or operational funding. Immunisation programs in 10 countries had major human resource gaps. Vaccine stock management tools were not effectively used in 10 countries, and stock out of vaccines and supplies was documented in 9 countries during the review. The full components of the RED strategy were implemented in only 3 of the 20 countries. Twelve countries reported challenges with the availability and accuracy of target populations. Four countries had documented the presence of vaccine hesitant groups at the time of the reviews. Conclusion the reviews demonstrated challenges in various aspects of the programs in different countries. The implementation of the review recommendations should be built into the annual program plans, as well as into coasted multi-year plans, in order to address the gaps and helps the program to attain the set targets. With the rapid evolution of the scope and complexity of the immunisation programs in recent years, countries should invest their efforts in building the capacity of their human resources as well as updating their logistics and data systems.

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“…Countries supported with GAVI funding undertake annual joint appraisal exercises with a focus on grant monitoring and overall progress towards program goals. These appraisals do not substitute for comprehensive program reviews [ 10 ]. The Eastern and Southern African subregion of the WHO consists of 20 Member States, a subset of the 47-member State of the WHO African region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immunisation program reviews in East and Southern Africa: 2012-2018; key lessons

Shibeshi¹,

Masresha²,

Daniel³

2020

Pan Afr Med J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Introduction World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that countries conduct comprehensive national immunisation programme reviews regularly to help them identify systems wide-barriers or gaps and monitor performance against the set targets. Methods we reviewed reports from the latest national immunisation program reviews conducted in the 20 countries in the subregion in the course of 2012-2018. We generated descriptive analysis of the findings across the subregion. Results the 20 program reviews included field observations to the subnational levels as well as interviews with program staff and stakeholders. At the time of the reviews, only 11 countries had functional National Immunisation Technical Advisory Groups. Operational funding was inadequate in half of the countries. The reviews documented the cancellation of outreach services, supportive supervision visits and maintenance of cold chain equipment due to the lack of fuel or operational funding. Immunisation programs in 10 countries had major human resource gaps. Vaccine stock management tools were not effectively used in 10 countries, and stockout of vaccines and supplies was documented in 9 countries during the review. The full components of the Reaching Every District (RED) Strategy were implemented in only 3 of the 20 countries. Twelve countries reported challenges with the availability and accuracy of target populations. Four countries had documented the presence of vaccine hesitant groups at the time of the reviews. Conclusion the reviews demonstrated challenges in various aspects of the programs in different countries. The implementation of the review recommendations should be built into the annual program plans, as well as into costed multi-year plans, in order to address the gaps and helps the program to attain the set targets. With the rapid evolution of the scope and complexity of the immunisation programs in recent years, countries should invest their efforts in building the capacity of their human resources as well as updating their logistics and data systems.

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Improving the efficiency and standards of a National Immunization Program Review: lessons learnt from United Republic of Tanzania

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Implementation of Mobile Phone Data Collection in the Conduct EPI Comprehensive Review in East and Southern African Countries

Implementation of Mobile Phone Data Collection in the Conduct EPI Comprehensive Review in East and Southern African Countries

Immunisation program reviews in East and Southern Africa. 2012-2018; key lessons

Immunisation program reviews in East and Southern Africa: 2012-2018; key lessons

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