ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Lack of or use of suboptimal cold chain equipment (CCE) is a major barrier to optimal immunization coverage and equity. Gavi established the CCE optimization platform (CCEOP) in 2015 to help eligible countries modernize their cold chain systems. However, there are limited data on CCE deployment at country level. We present lessons learnt from deploying CCE from the Gavi CCEOP in Cameroon. METHODS: This cross-sectional study collected data on the number of days items of CCE spent at each point on their trajectory from the entry port to 62 randomly selected health facilities in Cameroon. RESULTS: Once equipment arrived at the entry port, it took 10 d for customs clearance, 2 d from customs clearance to warehousing and 257 d (>9 mo) from the warehouse to facilities. Upon arrival at the facilities, it took a median of 53 (range 0-395) d from installation to final commissioning: most of the days (median=210) were spent between installation and final commissioning. The major causes of delays included insufficient coordination and communication across all levels, poor documentation and final commissioning. CONCLUSION: Early engagement on customs clearance, strengthening coordination and communication, ensuring proper documentation, as well as eliminating final commissioning, could significantly improve implementation of the program.
ABSTRACT
World Health Organization (WHO) estimated in 2013 that 49,000 deaths all over the world were caused by neonatal tetanus. Only as recently as the year 2000, neonatal tetanus was a public health problem in 59 countries, but since then it has been eliminated in 36 of the countries concerned. The objective of this piece of work, therefore, was to investigate which strategies intended to increase demand for vaccination are effective in increasing anti-tetanus vaccination coverage of women in Sub Saharan Africa. We searched the following electronic databases from January 1989 to July 2016: Medline, EMBASE (Excerpta Medica Database), The Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), WHOLIS (World Health Organization Library Database), LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Literature on Health Sciences) and contacted experts in the field. There were no restrictions to language or publication status. All study designs that could provide the information we sought were eligible, provided the studies were conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. Critical appraisal of all identified citations was done independently by two authors to establish the possible relevance of the articles for inclusion in the review. Our search strategy yielded 191 records and after assessment for eligibility, 6 papers met the criteria for inclusion. In Ivory Coast, after reorganization, health workers said they were satisfied with the work environment and the care provided in 91% and 96% of cases, respectively. In Kenya, the main factors contributing to having sufficiently immunized part of the population against tetanus are lower birth order, higher household wealth index, women's employment, making joint health-related decisions with a partner, and higher number of antenatal care visits. Particularly in Ethiopia, compared with other member countries, the size of the unimmunized population, reporting quality, fragileness of the health system, , resource limitation, and others deserve further concerted attention. In Nigeria, the prevalence of missed opportunities was 66%. The factors responsible for missed opportunities were; poor history taking, lack of knowledge of the current immunization schedule, dependence on physician referral for immunization and inefficient immunization records keeping system. In Nigeria, socio-logistic variables found to be important in Expanded Programme on Immunization implementations included scheduling, health staff attitude, intersectoral collaboration, and health education. Lack of community participation was also found to be a crucial constraining factor. There are many challenges to increase immunization coverage of tetanus vaccine for women. So far very few interventions addressing these challenges have been evaluated scientifically. Community mobilization interventions to change or impact beliefs and attitudes of women are absolutely needed. Additionally, improving accessibility, affordability, availability and accommodation of vaccination service venues will make them more attractive