Targeting the last polio sanctuaries with Directly Observed Oral Polio Vaccination (DOPV) in northern Nigeria, (2014–2016)

Abstract

BackgroundThe declaration of poliomyelitis eradication as a programmatic emergency for global public health by the 65th World Health Assembly in 2012 necessitated innovations and strategies to achieve results. Review of the confirmed polio cases in 2013 showed that most of the cases were from non-compliant households, where parents connived with vaccinators to finger mark the children without actually vaccinating the children with oral polio vaccine or children were absent from home at the time of the visit of vaccinators.MethodsWe used pre-post design to quantify the outcomes of directly observed vaccination in 90 local government areas from 12 northern Nigeria states at very high risk of polio transmission.The strategy is an intervention, vaccinating children under the direct supervision of an independent supervisor to ensure compliance. Attractive incentives (pluses) were used to make parents willingly submit their children for vaccination or directly attract children to the vaccination teams or post as part of this strategy.ResultsThere was a steady increase in population immunity in all the 90 DOPV implementing LGAs since the introduction of DOPV in 2013. The number of states in which > 90% of children received > 4 OPV doses increased from 7 in 2013 to 11 states by July 2016.Yobe state reported the highest proportional increase from 75 to 99% by July 2016 (22% increase), while Kano state reported 17% increase, from 82 to 99% by July 2016.ConclusionDirectly observed polio vaccination strategy improved uptake of polio vaccines and population immunity in high-risk areas for polio transmission.

The reactive vaccination campaign against cholera emergency in camps for internally displaced persons, Borno, Nigeria, 2017: a two-stage cluster survey

“…This creates room for pockets of populations without OCV protection, thus risking cholera outbreaks. Given the history of vaccine hesitancy in Borno, 38 we agree with Luquero et al 39 that qualitative studies are needed to access the behavioural determinants of OCV acceptability in Borno in a preemptive context. Data of administrative coverage were 105% and 99% during first and second rounds, respectively.…”

Polio Supplementary Immunization Activities During COVID-19 Pandemic: Experience from Penampang District, Sabah, Malaysia

“…The relationship between good monitoring and smooth implementation of mass vaccination has been established in other countries, namely Pakistan and Nigeria. 33 , 34 Furthermore, campaign monitoring provides a platform for intellectual interaction with updated information. The State Health Department constantly monitored the progress of SIAs and provided technical guidance whenever necessary.…”

Strengthening vaccination delivery system resilience in the context of protracted humanitarian crisis: a realist-informed systematic review

“…Although -as the summary table in Appendix 4 makes clear -the vast majority of studies referenced community engagement as a trust-building measure to a greater or lesser degree, four studies explicitly focusing on this aspect met the inclusion criteria for the review, all of which concerned multi-dimensional community mobilisation activities (68)(69)(70), and one of which combined community mobilisation activities with direct observation of polio vaccination by officials to ensure proper administration of vaccination (71). All four were implemented in Nigeria, and most were concerned with improving polio vaccination uptake.…”

“…Study outcomes focused predominantly on measures of administrative coverage and missed opportunities for vaccination. Three of the studies relied on narrative assessments of impact without formal statistical testing (68)(69)(70); the final study presented a rudimentary time series analysis (71). Two of the four studies found declines in the proportion of children who had not received any OPV doses during the study period (68,71); another showed concurrent, large increases in pentavalent vaccination coverage from an integrated intervention designed to improve uptake in hard-to-reach communities in Northern Nigeria (70), albeit with marked variations across geographies.…”