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MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2016 Oct 7;65(39):1072-1076. doi: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6539a5.
Real-Time Monitoring of Vaccination Campaign Performance Using Mobile Phones - Nepal 2016.
Oh DH Dabbagh A Goodson JL Strebel PM Thapa S Giri JN Shakya SR Khanal S.
Abstract
In 2012 the Global Vaccine Action Plan* established a goal to achieve measles and rubella elimination in five of the six World Health Organization (WHO) regions (194 countries) by 2020 (1). Measles elimination strategies aim to achieve ≥95% coverage with 2 routine doses of measles-containing vaccine (2) and implement supplementary immunization activities (SIAs)† in settings where routine coverage is low or where there are subpopulations at high risk. To ensure SIA quality and to achieve ≥95% SIA coverage nationally rapid convenience monitoring (RCM) is used during or immediately after SIAs (34). The objective of RCM is to find unvaccinated children and to identify reasons for non -vaccination in areas with persons at high risk to enable immediate implementation of corrective actions (e.g. reassigning teams to poorly vaccinated areas modifying the timing of vaccination or conducting mop-up vaccination activities). This report describes pilot testing of RCM using mobile phones (RCM-MP) during the second phase of an SIA in Nepal in 2016. Use of RCM-MP resulted in 87% timeliness and 94% completeness of data reporting and found that although 95% of children were vaccinated 42% of areas required corrective vaccination activities. RCM-MP challenges included connecting to mobile networks small phone screen size and capturing Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates. Nonetheless use of RCM-MP led to faster data transmission analysis and decision-making and to increased accountability among levels of the health system.