User Acceptability of Electronic Vaccine Registry Created using Simple Mobile Phone Technology in Nyandarua County, Kenya

Abstract

Vaccination is one of the most important and effective public health interventions against vaccine-preventable diseases. Developed countries have successfully reduced mortality and morbidity due to vaccine-preventable diseases through improving vaccine coverage. This is not the case among low-income countries as vaccine coverages continue to soar below the global target of 90% coverage. Among the reasons reported for the low coverage are poor documentation and poor target setting, which could be attributed to the limited use of electronic vaccine registries. An electronic vaccine registry was created using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) technology and registered births, vaccines administered, and sent short message reminders to mothers about their clinic dates. The registry was deployed in Nyandarua County, Kenya, between June 2018 to March 2019. We conducted a study to establish the acceptability and usability of the system to receive user feedback and explore possibilities of large-scale roll-out. All those interviewed (59) were able to log into the system during their first attempt. The majority (94.8%) reported that it was easy to manoeuvre the menu and move from one menu to the other System downtime was a rare phenomenon, and more than half (63%) reported that if it occurred, it happened at most once or twice per week. The majority of the respondents, 55 (98%), reported that the system was able to record the vaccines administered as envisioned. The cost to run the platform was quite manageable and slightly lower than internet-based systems. The system was user-friendly and can be replicated elsewhere.