A GIS device is attached to a vaccine carrier bag – Photo by Vince Seaman, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
As part of ongoing efforts to further improve operational quality of supplementary immunization activities (SIAs), a pilot study was carried out in Nigeria in November to determine the feasibility of using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to support both implementation and monitoring of SIAs. GIS is a tool that captures, stores, analyses and presents data linked to location(s). The technology has been applied widely in such fields as archeology, geography, cartography, urban planning and land surveying.
Five vaccination teams in Karu ward, AMAC Local Government Area in the Federal Capital Territory were equipped with GIS devices, which tracked and mapped the teams’ movements during the day, in relation to pre-prepared microplans. Analysis of the real-time data allowed for the immediate identification of possible missed areas, which were subsequently re-visited by the teams.
With the initial pilot demonstrating that GIS is useful to improve microplan development and implementation, the initiative will be scaled-up in early 2011 across high-risk areas of northern Nigeria. Successful application could also lead to integration of the new approach to key outbreak areas, including central Africa (Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Congo), where the quality of outbreak response has been hampered by operational issues. In the meantime, other pilot studies in Nigeria are exploring a range of new approaches to further sensitize tactics, including the use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS)-enabled mobile phones in end-process monitoring; network analysis to understand and address non-compliance; and, the establishment of local cross-function teams to monitor and rapidly improve SIA performance
In the past two decades, polio cases around the world have been reduced by 99 percent. If we can get rid of the last 1 percent, polio will become the second major infectious disease, after smallpox, that has ever been completely eliminated. There are still gaps in funding for polio eradication, and new outbreaks could reverse some of the progress made so far. But if polio is eliminated, never again will a child be crippled by this terrible virus.
Northern India and northern Nigeria are two areas where polio continues to be a problem. I visited northern India in May this year to see the progress there. I was very excited to visit northern Nigeria in June, because the progress there since my last visit in February 2009 has been especially impressive. As of July 14th, only five cases due to wild polio viruses were reported in Nigeria this year, versus hundreds last year.
I spent most of my first day in Kano, one of the northern states most vulnerable to polio. I met with community leaders, visited a local health center and stopped in at an informal school where students study the Koran in Arabic. On the streets and most everywhere else we went, I noticed so many young children around. Nigeria has more people by far than any other African country, and more than 40 percent of them are under the age of 15. That makes polio immunization a big challenge. Kano had just begun a campaign to immunize more than 6 million children under the age of five.
Part of the challenge is overcoming fear and suspicion. In Kano in the past, false rumors linked immunization to sterility and HIV. Community leaders told me that because polio vaccine is free and brought to people in their homes, some people think there must be something wrong with it. Community leaders play a critically important role in helping to overcome mistrust, and a big focus of anti-polio efforts is on informing these leaders and enlisting their support.
Message on British Houses of Parliament to celebrate 103 years of Rotary
The Rotary wheel logo and the “End Polio Now” message is beamed onto the Houses of Parliament, UK Rich Hendry, courtesy of Rotary International
A giant Rotary wheel – the organization’s logo – and the words “End Polio Now” were beamed onto the side of the House of Commons to the left of Big Ben on Rotary International’s 103rd Birthday on Saturday, 23rd February – to start a challenge to raise US$ 100 million to help finally eradicate polio from the world.
Polio eradication has been Rotary’s top priority since 1985, inspiring the launch of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, a partnership which has cut the number of polio cases by 99 per cent since then. The disease is now only endemic in four countries: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. Recently, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave Rotary a US$ 100 million challenge grant, which Rotary will match over the next three years.
The BBC aired images of the display, along with interviews with DG Colin Mathews and Gautam Lewis, a 30-year-old polio-survivor who immunized children on behalf of Rotary in his birthplace of India in November 2007. More
A child’s finger is marked after being vaccinated. Bodinga, Nigeria photo:Christine McNab
Independent polio campaign monitoring is carried out to assess the quality and impact of supplementary immunization activities. It is critical to guiding any necessary mid-course corrections if gaps or problems are found.
The basic elements of monitoring include recording: the number and source of independent monitors, the number of children monitored, the percentage of children whose fingers are marked to prove they were vaccinated (both in house-to-house monitoring and out-of-house) and the proportion of districts monitored.
Real-time, independent monitoring data answers the question, “How many children did we reach with vaccine?” It allows rapid changes to be made to cover missing children and stop polio transmission more quickly.
The results of the independent monitoring are made available internationally within 15 days of each immunization round.
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