Journal Article

Trend in proportions of missed children during polio supplementary immunization activities in the African Region: Evidence from independent monitoring data 2010–2012

Shaba, Keith, Salla, Mbaye, Gasasira, Alex, Orkeh, Godwin, Mihigo, Richard, Poy, Alain, Okeibunor, Joseph, Nshimirimana, Deo

2014

Overview

•Proportion of children missed declined consistently during polio supplementary immunization activities in the Region.•Proportion of missed children however remains a challenge in some clusters of the WHO African Region.•There is greater improvement in clusters, where monitoring of implementation is intense.•Monitoring and coordination are very important if the polio eradication goals are to be attained.•Coordination is enhanced through teleconferences with field implementers at relative low cost – travel time and manhour. This is a comparative analysis of independent monitoring data collected between 2010 and 2012, following the implementation of supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) in countries in the three sub regional blocs of World Health Organization in the African Region. The sub regional blocs are Central Africa, West Africa, East and Southern Africa. In addition to the support for SIAs, the Central and West African blocs, threatened with importation and re-establishment of polio transmission received intensive coordination through weekly teleconferences. The later, East and Southern African bloc with low polio threats was not engaged in the intensive coordination through teleconferences. The key indicator of the success of SIAs is the proportion of children missed during SIAs. The results showed that generally there was a decrease in the proportion of children missed during SIAs in the region, from 7.94% in 2010 to 5.95% in 2012. However, the decrease was mainly in the Central and West African blocs. The East and Southern African bloc had countries with as much as 25% missed children. In West Africa and Central Africa, where more coordinated SIAs were conducted, there were progressive and consistent drops, from close to 20–10% at the maximum. At the country and local levels, steps were undertaken to ameliorate situation of low immunization uptake. Wherever an area is observed to have low coverage, local investigations were conducted to understand reasons for low coverage, plans to improve coverage are made and implemented in a coordinated manner. Lessons learned from close monitoring of polio eradication SIAs are will be applied to other campaigns being conducted in the African Region to accelerate control of other vaccine preventable diseases including cerebrospinal meningitis A, measles and yellow fever.

• Publisher: Elsevier Ltd,Elsevier,Elsevier Limited
• Subject: Africa / Allergy and Immunology / Applied microbiology / Biological and medical sciences / Central Africa / Child, Preschool / children / data collection / Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology / Human viral diseases / Humans / Immunization / Immunization - statistics & numerical data / Immunization Programs - organization & administration / Independent-monitoring / Infant / Infectious diseases / Medical sciences / meningitis / Microbiology / Missed-children / monitoring / Mortality / Polio / Poliomyelitis - prevention & control / Poliovirus Vaccines - administration & dosage / Public health / Public Health Surveillance / Southern Africa / Trend / Vaccines / Vaccines, antisera, therapeutical immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibodies (general aspects) / Vector-borne diseases / Viral diseases / Viral diseases of the nervous system / Western Africa / World Health Organization / Yellow fever virus