Improvements in Polio Vaccination Status and Knowledge about Polio Vaccination in the CORE Group Polio Project Implementation Areas in Pastoralist and Semi-Pastoralist Regions in Ethiopia.
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SUBMITTER: Tessema F
PROVIDER: S-EPMC6776097 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:BACKGROUND:Children who receive all doses of scheduled vaccines reduce their susceptibility to vaccine-preventable diseases. In India, full immunization coverage has increased significantly. However, only a small proportion of children are immunized on time. Globally, studies on factors affecting coverage of childhood immunization have found a significant impact by demand and supply-side determinants. This paper explores the demand-side determinants of timely immunization of the third dose of oral polio vaccine (OPV3) among children aged 6-11 months in the catchment areas of CORE Group Polio Project India. METHODS:We analyzed secondary de-identified data from a household level 'Doers and Non-doers survey' conducted in 2015. Determinants of timely OPV3 immunization were identified by modeling the characteristics of index children and survey respondents, surveyed households, respondents' media habits, their exposure to immunization services and perceptions towards child immunization, through a multinomial regression analysis. RESULTS:The eight demand-side predictors based on the background characteristics and perceptions of caregivers determined timely vaccination of OPV3. The strongest predictor of timely OPV3 immunization was found to be the fathers' educational level. Children of uneducated or lesser educated fathers had increased odds of not receiving the OPV1 vaccination, as compared to children of more educated fathers (OR > 10). Respondents who strongly perceived other (non-health) benefits of child immunization were three times more likely to timely vaccinate their children than those who do not. Furthermore, mothers who disagreed with the positive attributes of child immunization were 25 times more likely to delay or not to take their children for OPV immunization on time. CONCLUSIONS:This study found eight essential factors that are responsible for timely OPV3. Despite limitations in data collection and analysis, immunization programs in India could use the eight identified demand-side determinants of timeliness and tailor communication strategies accordingly. We suggest that program communication efforts be directed at male community members; such messaging should address parents' perceptions of non-health benefits and stress the positive attributes of child immunization. Further investigation would be helpful to assess the various risk factors of under-vaccination as well as vaccinators' understating about timely immunization.
| S-EPMC5956729 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundGlobally, community engagement is an integral part of most public health programs and the social mobilization (SM) intervention of India's polio eradication program is one such example that contributed to eliminating polio from the country. CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP), a partner of Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) SM Network executed its activities through a network of social mobilizers called Community Mobilization Coordinators (CMCs). These were deployed in polio high risk areas to perform awareness generation and trust-building activities with communities and achieved high coverage of polio vaccination during Supplementary Immunization Activity campaigns (SIAs). This paper measures the extent and outcomes of CMC community engagement in SM interventions and polio SIAs.MethodsThis study used secondary, cluster-level data from Management Information System of CGPP India, including 52 SIAs held between January 2008 to September 2017 in 56 blocks/polio planning units, covering 12 districts of U.P. We used five indicators that reflected community engagement in polio SIAs and constructed a Community Engagement Index (CEI). Further, we estimated the difference in the CEI between CMC and non-CMC areas, using Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) and also estimated treatment effects through Difference-in-Differences (DID) method using STATA.ResultsOverall, 78.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) = 78.3, 78.8) of families from the study area were engaged in the polio SIAs and the extent of community engagement increased over time. The mean CEI of entire study period in CMC areas (85.8%; 95% CI = 85.6, 86.0) was significantly higher (P < 0.001) than that of non-CMC areas (71.3%; 95% CI = 71.1, 71.5). Over time, the SM intervention led to at least 11 percentage points increase in the CEI of CMC areas with about 17% of this achievement attributable to CGPP India's SM efforts.ConclusionsThe study findings suggest that intensive social mobilization efforts can significantly increase the extent of community engagement. The community engagement learnings of polio SM Network may be useful to achieve the desired outcomes of public health programs such as the National Health Mission (NHM) of India, that serves communities for multiple health issues.
| S-EPMC7956133 | biostudies-literature
Project description:IntroductionCountries with fragile health systems like South Sudan experienced significant impacts on routine immunization during the COVID-19 pandemic. Routine immunization in children aged younger than 1 year declined due to pandemic-related constraints and was compounded by the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccine, which was met with hesitancy and reluctance. When South Sudan reported the first COVID-19 case in March 2020, the CORE Group Partners Project (CGPP) rapidly integrated the COVID-19 outbreak response into its ongoing polio eradication activities, leveraging the existing polio infrastructure and human resources. We describe the integration process, results, and challenges and detail the impact of the integration on coverage for both routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccinations.MethodsEfforts to integrate COVID-19 vaccination and routine immunization service delivery were implemented in 5 phases: assessing the need, developing multisector collaborations, developing a service delivery plan, assessing implementation readiness, and implementing and evaluating the service delivery plan. Integration efforts prioritized coordination, training vaccinators and volunteers, development of microplans, data management, and last-mile vaccine delivery. Integrated service delivery was implemented through "one-stop shop" sessions where communities accessed routine immunizations for children, COVID-19 vaccinations for adults, and other primary health services.ResultsIntegrating health service delivery contributed to improved routine immunization coverage among children, improved COVID-19 vaccination coverage among adults, reduced cost for service delivery, and increased access to more comprehensive health services in hard-to-reach communities. COVID-19 vaccinations were delivered at US$4.70 per dose, a cost substantially lower than other reported delivery mechanisms.ConclusionIntegration can yield positive results and improve access to vaccination and other health services for communities. However, it requires clear policy guidelines, commitment, and strong collaboration. Challenges included resistance from stakeholders, overstretched human resources, and diversion of funding and attention from program areas, which were overcome through deliberate high-level advocacy, partnership, and intensified community engagement.
| S-EPMC10948123 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundA social mobilization (SM) initiative contributed to India's success in polio elimination. This was the CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) India, a partner of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) SM Network and which continued its SM activities, even during the polio-free period through a network of multi-level social mobilizers. This paper assesses the effects of this community-level SM (CLSM) intervention on the extent of community engagement and performance of polio Supplementary Immunization Activity campaigns (SIAs) during the post-polio-endemic period (i.e., from March 2012 to September 2017).MethodsThis study followed a quasi-experimental design. We used secondary, cluster-level data from CGPP India's Management Information System, including 52 SIAs held from January 2008 to September 2017, covering 56 blocks from 12 districts of UP. We computed various indicators and performed Generalized Estimating Equations based analysis to assess the statistical significance of differences between the outcomes of intervention and non-intervention areas. We then estimated the effects of the SM intervention using Interrupted time-series, Difference-in-Differences and Synthetic Control Methods. Finally, we estimated the population influenced by the intervention.ResultsThe performance of polio SIAs changed over time, with the intervention areas having better outcomes than non-intervention areas. The absence of CLSM intervention during the post-polio-endemic period would have negatively impacted the outcomes of polio SIAs. The percentage of children vaccinated at polio SIA booths, percentage of 'X' houses (i.e., households with unvaccinated children or households with out-of-home/out-of-village children or locked households) converted to 'P' (i.e., households with all vaccinated children or households without children eligible for vaccination), and percentage of resistant houses converted to polio acceptors would have gone down by 14.1 (Range: 12.7 to 15.5), 6.3 (Range: 5.2 to 7.3) and 7.4 percentage points, respectively. Community engagement would have reduced by 7.2 (Range: 6.6 to 7.7) percentage points.ConclusionsThe absence of CLSM intervention would have significantly decreased the level of community engagement and negatively impacted the performance of polio SIAs of the post-polio-endemic period. The study provides evidence of an added value of deploying additional human resource dedicated to social mobilization to achieve desired vaccination outcomes in hard-to-reach or programmatically challenging areas.
| S-EPMC8272292 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) has contributed to polio eradication by successfully engaging civil society, particularly the non-governmental organization (NGO) community. This engagement, which began with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development in 1999, has contributed to improvements in routine immunization programs, polio campaign quality, and surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis in many challenging geographic areas. The CGPP has worked closely with polio eradication partners in a collaborative and supportive role. The CGPP has focused largely on high-risk areas with marginalized or hard-to-reach populations where health systems and immunization programs have also been weak and where transmission of poliovirus had not been stopped. The CGPP has engaged local civic leaders and communities in ways to complement top-down vertical efforts of ministries of health and other partners in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The CGPP has developed innovative strategies to detect cases using community-based surveillance, promoted independent campaign monitoring, established cross-border initiatives, and developed a strong and creative cadre of community mobilizers to track missed children and deliver behavior change education. Many of the innovations and approaches that the CGPP helped to develop are now being replicated by governments and international agencies to tackle other public health priorities in underserved and marginalized communities around the world. This article is the first in a series of articles describing the work of the CGPP. Because the article describes the work of more than 40 NGOs in 11 countries over 20 years, it provides only an overview, leaving many important details and variations of the CGPP's work to be described elsewhere, including in other articles included in this series.
| S-EPMC6776098 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundTraditional medicine has remained the most affordable and easily accessible source of treatment in the primary healthcare system among communities unable to get modern medication. Ethiopian indigenous people have a long history of traditional plant utilization for treating ailments. The objectives of this study were to identify, document, and analyze the cultural significances of medicinal plants and their associated indigenous knowledge among Guji Semi-Pastoralist People, in Suro Barguda District, West Guji Zone, southern Ethiopia.MethodsSemi-structured interview, focus group discussions, participant observation, and walk-in-the-woods methods were used to gather medicinal plants data. The informant consensus factor (ICF) and fidelity level (FL) values were calculated using quantitative approaches to check the level of informants' agreement on plant use and the healing potential of medicinal plant species, respectively. Indigenous knowledge of the use of medicinal plants for medicinal purposes among different informant groups was compared using t tests with R software.ResultsA total of 98 medicinal plant species belonging to 87 genera and 48 families were reported to be used for treating human ailments such as gastrointestinal diseases, breathing system diseases, dermatological diseases, and febrile diseases. Family Fabaceae was represented by 10 species followed by Lamiaceae (7 species). Four of the medicinal plants (Bothriocline schimperi Oliver & Hiern ex Bentham, Erythrina brucei Schweinf. emend. Gillett, Lippia adoensis Hochst. ex Walp. var. adoensis, and Millettia ferruginea (Hochst.) Hochst. ex Baker) were found endemic to Ethiopia and shrubs were more dominant (36 species). Ninety-one medicinal plant species were used for remedy preparation as soon as they were collected in their fresh form; 35.6% herbal medicine preparation was through crushing the plant parts and homogenizing them with cold and clean water; 159 (70.4%) traditional medicinal preparations were reported to be taken in their drinking form (orally).ConclusionThe study indicated that the district is rich in different species of medicinal plants used to treat human ailments and indigenous knowledge about using these resources. Species with the recorded highest consensus for curative purposes are useful sources for further phytochemical and pharmacological validation for better utilization. Declining wild medicinal flora of the area calls for conservation priority.
| S-EPMC8524801 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundLatrine utilization is the actual behavior in a practice of regularly using existing latrines for safe disposal of excreta. Latrine utilization is a common problem in semi-urban areas of developing countries, including Ethiopia. Since the status of latrine utilization and associated factors among semi-urban areas of northeastern Ethiopia, including Alansha in South Wollo Zone is unknown, local data is needed in order to assess the need for planning of intervention programs for the improvement of latrine utilization to support consistent and sustained latrine utilization. This study is designed to address this knowledge gap.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted from February to March, 2019 among 401 systematically selected households. Data were collected by trained workers using a pre-tested, structured questionnaire via face-to-face interviews and on-the-spot observations of the latrines. A systematic random sampling method was used to select participant households. Data were entered using EpiData version 3.1 and exported to Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.0 for data cleaning and analysis. The wealth index status of participants was estimated using principal component analysis. Data were analyzed using a binary logistic regression model at 95% confidence interval (CI). From the multivariable logistic regression analysis, variables with p-value < 0.05 were taken as statistically significant and independently associated with latrine utilization. Model fitness was checked using Hosmer-Lemeshow test.ResultWe found that the prevalence of latrine utilization among households was 71.8% (95% CI [67.5-76.1%]) while 28.2% (95% CI [23.9-32.5%]) did not utilize latrines. About one-fifth (21.7%) of participant households were found to have a pit latrine with slab and 78.3% (311) used pit latrines without slab. The hygienic condition of the majority (82.9%) of the latrines was dirty and only 17.1% clean. Household family size from one to three persons (AOR: 3.99, 95% CI [1.20-6.24]), presence of primary or secondary school student in a house (AOR: 2.33, 95% CI [1.42-3.83]), number of years since latrine was constructed (≥ 2 years) (AOR: 1.82, 95% CI [1.12-2.95]) and a frequency of daily cleaning of the latrine (AOR: 2.19, 95% CI [1.12-4.28]) were factors significantly associated with latrine utilization.ConclusionSeven out of ten households utilized a latrine. Factors significantly associated with latrine utilization were household family size from one to three persons, presence of primary or secondary school student in the house, time since household latrine had been constructed of two or more years and daily frequency of latrine cleaning. Therefore, it is recommended that measures to promote behavioral change towards further improvement in sustainable and consistent latrine utilization should be carried out based on the evidence of the determinant factors found in this study.
| S-EPMC7660512 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Pakistan is one of three countries in which endemic transmission of poliovirus has never been stopped. Insecurity is often cited but poorly studied as a barrier to eradicating polio. We analyzed routinely collected health data from 32 districts of northwest Pakistan and constructed an index of insecurity based on journalistic reports of the monthly number of deaths and injuries resulting from conflict-related security incidents. The primary outcomes were the monthly incidence of paralytic polio cases within each district between 2007 and 2014 and the polio vaccination percentage from 666 district-level vaccination campaigns between 2007 and 2009, targeting ?5.7 million children. Multilevel Poisson regression controlling for time and district fixed effects was used to model the association between insecurity, vaccinator access, vaccination rates, and polio incidence. The number of children inaccessible to vaccinators was 19.7% greater (95% CI: 19.2-20.2%), and vaccination rates were 5.3% lower (95% CI: 5.2-5.3%) in "high-insecurity" campaigns compared with "secure" campaigns. The unadjusted mean vaccination rate was 96.3% (SD = 8.6) in secure campaigns and 88.3% (SD = 19.2) in high-insecurity campaigns. Polio incidence was 73.0% greater (95% CI: 30-131%) during high-insecurity months (unadjusted mean = 0.13 cases per million people, SD = 0.71) compared with secure months (unadjusted mean = 1.23 cases per million people, SD = 4.28). Thus, insecurity was associated with reduced vaccinator access, reduced polio vaccination, and increased polio incidence in northwest Pakistan. These findings demonstrate that insecurity is an important obstacle to global polio eradication.
| S-EPMC5816148 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Regions with insufficient vaccination have hindered worldwide poliomyelitis eradication, as they are vulnerable to sporadic outbreaks through reintroduction of the disease. Despite Israel's having been declared polio-free in 1988, a routine sewage surveillance program detected polio in 2013. To curtail transmission, the Israel Ministry of Health launched a vaccine campaign to vaccinate children-who had only received the inactivated polio vaccine-with the oral polio vaccine (OPV). Determining the degree of prosocial motivation in vaccination behavior is challenging because vaccination typically provides direct benefits to the individual as well as indirect benefits to the community by curtailing transmission. However, the Israel OPV campaign provides a unique and excellent opportunity to quantify and model prosocial vaccination as its primary objective was to avert transmission. Using primary survey data and a game-theoretical model, we examine and quantify prosocial behavior during the OPV campaign. We found that the observed vaccination behavior in the Israeli OPV campaign is attributable to prosocial behavior and heterogeneous perceived risk of paralysis based on the individual's comprehension of the prosocial nature of the campaign. We also found that the benefit of increasing comprehension of the prosocial nature of the campaign would be limited if even 24% of the population acts primarily from self-interest, as greater vaccination coverage provides no personal utility to them. Our results suggest that to improve coverage, communication efforts should also focus on alleviating perceived fears surrounding the vaccine.
| S-EPMC7293608 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Census-based management information systems (CB-MISs) bring strength and power to public health programs by providing current information about everyone in the population covered by the program. Such a system has been developed by the CORE Group Polio Project (CGPP) in India. This article assesses the effectiveness of the CGPP CB-MIS in the management of social and behavioral change interventions. It also assesses the feasibility of the CB-MIS for vital events registration. We describe the procedures of the CB-MIS and measure the outcomes of the CGPP by observing the trends of vaccination coverage in CGPP catchment areas over time. We also compute vital statistics from births and deaths registered through the CGPP CB-MIS and compare them with the estimates from the Civil Registration System of India using statistics from India's Sample Registration System in Uttar Pradesh as the "gold standard." The CB-MIS has helped the CGPP to manage its social and behavior change communication interventions effectively, and it has contributed to the increase in polio vaccine coverage facilitated by the CGPP. We also estimate that the CGPP's CB-MIS has registered 86% of births and 98% of infant deaths, a much higher level of registration than has been achieved by the Civil Registration System for the entire state of Uttar Pradesh. The CB-MIS has helped to make it possible for community-based health workers to make behavioral diagnoses of barriers to immunization and to overcome them. The CB-MIS also provides a robust platform for community-based health workers to register vital events.
| S-EPMC6776090 | biostudies-literature