Engagement of community health workers to improve immunization coverage through addressing inequities and enhancing data quality and use is a feasible and effective approach: An implementation study in Uganda.

Background: Uganda, like many other developing countries, faces the challenges of unreliable estimates for its immunization target population. Strengthening immunization data quality and its use for improving immunization program performance are critical steps toward improving coverage and equity of immunization programs. The goal of this study was to determine the effectiveness of using community health workers (CHWs) to obtain quality and reliable data that can be used for planning and evidence-based response actions.

Introduction and implementation of an immunization information system in the Indonesian province of Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta: lessons for scaling-up.

Background: Immunization is critical to saving children from infections. To increase vaccination coverage, valid and real-time data are needed. Accordingly, it is essential to have a good report system that serves as defaulter tracking to prevent children's immunization failure.

Status of Compassionate, Respectful, and Caring Health Service Delivery: Scoping Review.

Background: A compassionate, respectful, and caring (CRC) health professional is very important for human-centered care, serving clients ethically and with respect, adhering to the professional oath, and serving as a model for young professionals. As countries try to achieve universal health coverage (UHC), quality delivery of health services is crucial. CRC health care is an initiative around the need to provide quality care services to clients and patients.

What we know and don't know about the immunization program of Ethiopia: a scoping review of the literature.

Background: There has been significant recent prioritization and investment in the immunization program in Ethiopia. However, coverage rates have stagnated and remained low for many years, suggesting the presence of systemic barriers to implementation. Hence, there is a need to consolidate the existing knowledge, in order to address them and consequently improve program effectiveness.

The influence of gender on immunisation: using an ecological framework to examine intersecting inequities and pathways to change.

There is still a substantial knowledge gap on how gender mediates child health in general, and child immunisation outcomes in particular. Similarly, implementation of interventions to mitigate gender inequities that hinder children from being vaccinated requires additional perspectives and research. We adopt an intersectional approach to gender and delve into the social ecology of implementation, to show how gender inequities and their connection with immunisation are grounded in the interplay between individual, household, community and system factors.

Lessons learnt from human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination in 45 low- and middle-income countries.

Objective: To synthesise lessons learnt and determinants of success from human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine demonstration projects and national programmes in low- and middle-income countries (LAMICs).

Methods: Interviews were conducted with 56 key informants. A systematic literature review identified 2936 abstracts from five databases; after screening 61 full texts were included.

Social mobilisation, consent and acceptability: a review of human papillomavirus vaccination procedures in low and middle-income countries.

Background: Social mobilisation during new vaccine introductions encourages acceptance, uptake and adherence to multi-dose schedules. Effective communication is considered especially important for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine, which targets girls of an often-novel age group. This study synthesised experiences and lessons learnt around social mobilisation, consent, and acceptability during 55 HPV vaccine demonstration projects and 8 national programmes in 37 low and middle-income countries (LMICs) between January 2007 and January 2015.

The value of demonstration projects for new interventions: The case of human papillomavirus vaccine introduction in low- and middle-income countries.

Demonstration projects or pilots of new public health interventions aim to build learning and capacity to inform country-wide implementation. Authors examined the value of HPV vaccination demonstration projects and initial national programmes in low-income and lower-middle-income countries, including potential drawbacks and how value for national scale-up might be increased. Data from a systematic review and key informant interviews, analyzed thematically, included 55 demonstration projects and 8 national programmes implemented between 2007-2015 (89 years' experience).

Heterogeneity in the validity of administrative-based estimates of immunization coverage across health districts in Burkina Faso: implications for measurement, monitoring and planning.

Background: Data aggregation in national information systems begins at the district level. Decentralization has given districts a lead role in health planning and management, therefore validity of administrative-based estimates at that level is important to improve the performance of immunization information systems.

Objective: To assess the validity of administrative-based immunization estimates and their usability for planning and monitoring activities at district level.

System-level determinants of immunization coverage disparities among health districts in Burkina Faso: a multiple case study.

Background: Despite rapid and tangible progress in vaccine coverage and in premature mortality rates registered in sub-Saharan Africa, inequities to access remain firmly entrenched, large pockets of low vaccination coverage persist, and coverage often varies considerably across regions, districts, and health facilities' areas of responsibility. This paper focuses on system-related factors that can explain disparities in immunization coverage among districts in Burkina Faso.

Methods: A multiple-case study was conducted of six districts representative of different immunization trends and overall performance.

Monitoring the performance of the Expanded Program on Immunization: the case of Burkina Faso.

Background: The greatest challenge facing expanded programs on immunization in general, and in Burkina Faso in particular, lies in their capacity to achieve and sustain levels of immunization coverage that will ensure effective protection of children. This article aims to demonstrate that full immunization coverage of children, which is the primary indicator for monitoring national immunization programs, is sufficient neither to evaluate their performance adequately, nor to help identify the broad strategies that must be implemented to improve their performance. Other dimensions of performance, notably adherence to the vaccination schedule and the efficacy of the approaches used to reach all the children (targeting) must also be considered.