Immunisation program reviews in East and Southern Africa (2012-2018): key lessons.

Introduction: the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that countries conduct comprehensive national immunisation program reviews regularly to help them identify systems wide-barriers or gaps and monitor performance against the set targets.

Methods: we reviewed reports from the latest national immunisation program reviews conducted in the 20 countries in the sub-region in the course of 2012-2018. We generated descriptive analysis of the findings across the sub-region.

Implementation of integrated supportive supervision in the context of coronavirus 19 pandemic: its effects on routine immunization and vaccine preventable surveillance diseases indicators in the East and Southern African countries.

Introduction: the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) global pandemic has caused serious disruption to almost all aspect of human endeavor forcing countries to implement unprecedented public health measures aimed at mitigating its effects, such as total lockdown (inter and intra), travel bans, quarantine, social distancing in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. Supportive supervision is a functional component of the immunization systems that allows identification of existing gaps, provides an opportunity for onsite training, and document real-time findings for improvement of the program. The control measures of COVID-19 pandemic have also resulted in limitation of operations of the immunization system including supportive supervision.

The Effect of Real Time Integrated Supportive Supervision Visits on the Performance of Health Workers in Zambia.

The use of online Integrated Supportive Supervision (ISS) is aimed to improve the quality of services provided by front line health workers. This work is aimed to document the effects of ISS on the performance of health workers in Zambia using selected key surveillance and immunization process indicators. ISS data on WHO ODK server of all Integrated Supportive Supervisory (ISS) visits that were conducted in Zambia between 1 January 2018 to 30 September 2018 were analysed to determine the Percentage point difference between the first and the most recent ISS visits in order to determine whether an observed gap during first ISS visit had persisted during the most recent ISS visit.

Immunisation program reviews in East and Southern Africa: 2012-2018; key lessons.

Introduction: World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that countries conduct comprehensive national immunisation programme reviews regularly to help them identify systems wide-barriers or gaps and monitor performance against the set targets.

Methods: we reviewed reports from the latest national immunisation program reviews conducted in the 20 countries in the subregion in the course of 2012-2018. We generated descriptive analysis of the findings across the subregion.

The performance of routine immunization in selected African countries during the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: following the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020, countries started implementing strict control measures, health workers were re-deployed and health facilities re-purposed to assist COVID-19 control efforts. These measures, along with the public concerns of getting COVID-19, led to a decline in the utilization of regular health services including immunization.

Methods: we reviewed the administrative routine immunization data from 15 African countries for the period from January 2018 to June 2020 to analyze the trends in the monthly number of children vaccinated with specific antigens, and compare the changes in the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of Recent Rubella Vaccine Introduction in 5 Countries in The African Region.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that countries introduce rubella containing vaccines (RCVs) to reduce rubella circulation and the occurrence of congenital rubella syndrome (CRS). As of June 2017, a total of 18 countries have already introduced or are in the process of introducing RCV in routine child vaccination programs. RCV introduction during 2013 - 2014 in five countries in the Region resulted in a reduction of rubella incidence of 48% to 96% in the post-introduction period as compared to the average incidence in the years before introduction.

Introduction of the Second Dose of Measles Containing Vaccine in the Childhood Vaccination Programs Within the WHO Africa Region - Lessons Learnt.

Background: WHO recommends all countries to include a second routine dose of measles containing vaccine (MCV2) in their national routine vaccination schedules regardless of the level of coverage with the first routine dose of measles containing vaccine (MCV1). As of Dec 2016, 26 countries in the African Region have introduced MCV2.

Methods: We reviewed the WHO UNICEF coverage estimates for MCV1 and MCV2 in these countries, and the reports of the post introduction evaluation of MCV2 from 11 countries.

Progress towards achieving and maintaining maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination in the African region.

Despite the availability of effective tetanus prevention strategies, as of 2016, Maternal and Neonatal Tetanus Elimination (MNTE) has not yet been achieved in 18 countries globally. In this paper, we review the status of MNTE in the World Health Organization African Region (AFR),and provide recommendations for achieving and maintaining MNTE in AFR. As of November 2016, 37 (79%) AFR countries have achieved MNTE, with 10 (21%) countries remaining.

Vaccine receipt and vaccine card availability among children of the apostolic faith: analysis from the 2010-2011 Zimbabwe demographic and health survey.

Introduction: Vaccine hesitancy and refusal continue to be a global challenge to reaching immunization targets, especially among those in traditional or fundamentalist religions. The apostolic faith in Zimbabwe has been historically associated with objection to most medical interventions, including immunization.

Methods: We conducted a descriptive analysis of socio-demographic characteristics and vaccine coverage among apostolic and non-apostolic adults aged 15-49 years and children aged 12-23 months using the Demographic and Health Survey conducted in Zimbabwe during 2010-2011.