Clustered lot quality assurance sampling: a pragmatic tool for timely assessment of vaccination coverage.

Objectives: To evaluate oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) coverage of the November 2009 round in five Northern Nigeria states with ongoing wild poliovirus transmission using clustered lot quality assurance sampling (CLQAS).

Methods: We selected four local government areas in each pre-selected state and sampled six clusters of 10 children in each Local Government Area, defined as the lot area. We used three decision thresholds to classify OPV coverage: 75-90%, 55-70% and 35-50%.

Implementation of a mass measles campaign in central Afghanistan, December 2001 to May 2002.

In Afghanistan health services have been disrupted by 23 years of conflict and 1 of 4 children die before age 5 years. Measles accounts for an estimated 35,000 deaths annually. Surveillance data show a high proportion of measles cases (38%) among those >/=5 years old.

[Poliomyelitis eradication in areas with armed conflict: the case of Afghanistan].

The aim of this study was to describe fieldwork to erradicate poliomyelitis from Afghanistan and particularly from the Mazar Region. From 1997-1999, 365 cases of acute flaccid paralysis were detected. Of these, 216 cases (59.