Improving routine immunization data quality using daily short message system reporting platform: An experience from Nasarawa state, Nigeria.

Routine immunization (RI) delivery was declared a public health concern in Nigeria in 2017 because of persistently low immunization coverage rates reported in independent surveys. However, administrative coverage rates remain high, suggesting serious data quality issues. We posit that a shorter timespan between service provision and data reporting can improve the monitoring of RI data, and developed a short message system (SMS) text reporting strategy to generate daily RI data points from health facilities (HFs). The goal was to assess whether daily data collection produces complete, reliable and internally consistent data points. The SMS reporting platform was piloted between December 2017 and April 2018 in two Local Government Areas (LGAs, equivalent to districts) of Nasarawa state, Nigeria. The 145 healthcare workers from 55 HFs received one mobile phone and pre-configured SIM card, and were trained to send data through predefined codes. Healthcare workers compiled the data after each vaccination session and transmitted them via SMS. We analyzed completeness, number of weekly sessions, and supportive supervision conducted. During the pilot phase, we received data from 85% (n = 47) of the 55 HFs. We expected 66 fixed-post sessions and 30 outreach sessions per week, but received data for 33 fixed-post and 8 outreach weekly session on average. More HFs reported on Tuesdays compared to other days of the week. When assessing internal consistency, we observed that the reported number of children vaccinated was sometimes higher than the number of doses available from opening a given number of vaccine vials. When found, this discrepancy was noted for all antigens during fixed-post and outreach vaccination sessions. Despite these initial discrepancies, transmitting RI data sessions via texting is feasible and can provide real-time updates to the performance of the RI services at the HF level.

Serological detection of human parvovirus B19 infection and associated risk factors among pregnant women in Jigawa State, Nigeria.

Human Parvovirus B19 (B19 V) infection is hyperendemic in Nigeria. Pregnant women are not classically immunocompromised but maybe physiologically immunosuppressed and susceptible to viral infection. However, there is a paucity of studies on the epidemiology of B19V in Jigawa State, Northwestern Nigeria. This study aims to determine the seroprevalence, sociodemographic, and risk factors of human B19V infection among present women attending antenatal clinics of Jahun General Hospital, Nigeria. Between 2 February and 30 June 2019, blood samples were collected from 200 consented pregnant women and analyzed for anti-B19V IgM and IgG using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Sociodemographic and risk factors of subjects were collated through pre-tested structured questionnaires. Data generated were statistically analyzed for the association of anti-B19V and subjects' variables studied. Overall, the seroprevalence of anti-B19V IgM and IgG among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics of Jahun General Hospital, Nigeria was 6.0% and 22.5%, respectively. There was no significant association between the seroprevalence of anti-B19V IgM and anti-B19V IgG with all the sociodemographic variables and risk factors of pregnant women (P Ëƒ0.05). However, pregnant women with a history of blood transfusion had a significant risk associated with seroprevalence of B19V IgM (OR = 5.95; 95% CI: 1.96-22.76; P = .009). Findings from this study revealed that a high proportion of the pregnant women were susceptible to B19V infection and anti-B19V IgG immunity decreased with age. Given the incidence of acute B19V infection, it is clinically important to continuously monitor their erythrocytes indices and screen their neonates for B19V infection and fetal complications.