Applying quality improvement tools to the Reaching Every District strategy: a mixed-methods examination of a systems strengthening approach to building the capacity of immunization managers and service providers in Ethiopia.

The Reaching Every District (RED) strategy, implemented in Ethiopia for over 15 years, has helped to improve immunization performance. However, recent demographic and health survey data indicate wide variations in immunization coverage. To address these disparities, quality improvement (QI) tools and methods were applied in phases to the RED strategy between 2011 and 2018 and were ultimately scaled to 103 districts in Ethiopia.

Lessons Learned From Integrating Infant and Young Child Feeding Counseling and Iron-Folic Acid Distribution Into Routine Immunization Services in Ethiopia.

Immunization programs reach more children and communities than any other health intervention, thus making immunization a promising platform for integrating other essential health services. There is a dearth of literature on integrating nutrition interventions, such as infant and young child feeding (IYCF) counseling and iron-folic acid (IFA) supplementation, into routine immunization services.To address this evidence gap, a 15-month pilot study (August 2019 to November 2020) tested the feasibility of integrating IYCF counseling and IFA supplement distribution into immunization service delivery in Ethiopia.

Linked vaccination coverage surveys plus serosurveys among Ethiopian toddlers undertaken three years apart to compare coverage and serologic evidence of protection in districts implementing the RED-QI approach.

Unlabelled: In low and middle-income countries, estimating the proportion of vaccinated toddlers in a population is important for controlling vaccine-preventable diseases by identifying districts where immunization services need strengthening. Estimates measured before and several years after specific interventions can assess program performance. However, employing different methods to derive vaccination coverage estimates often yield differing results.

Immunization Coverage Surveys and Linked Biomarker Serosurveys in Three Regions in Ethiopia.

Objective: Demographic and health surveys, immunization coverage surveys and administrative data often divergently estimate vaccination coverage, which hinders pinpointing districts where immunization services require strengthening. We assayed vaccination coverage in three regions in Ethiopia by coverage surveys and linked serosurveys.

Methods: Households with children aged 12-23 (N = 300) or 6-8 months (N = 100) in each of three districts (woredas) were randomly selected for immunization coverage surveys (inspection of vaccination cards and immunization clinic records and maternal recall) and linked serosurveys.

Strategies for Coordination of a Serosurvey in Parallel with an Immunization Coverage Survey.

A community-based immunization coverage survey is the standard way to estimate effective vaccination delivery to a target population in a region. Accompanying serosurveys can provide objective measures of protective immunity against vaccine-preventable diseases but pose considerable challenges with respect to specimen collection and preservation and community compliance. We performed serosurveys coupled to immunization coverage surveys in three administrative districts (woredas) in rural Ethiopia.