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Oct 11, 2012

JLN Information Technology Track: Collaborating Across Countries for Health Insurance Information Systems

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Global

Presentation on project made by David Lubinski at JLN workshop held in Mombasa, Kenya, June 2011.

Download File: pptx (2.6 MB)

Oct 1, 2012

Regular Review of Program & Health Worker Performance: Using Data to Make a Difference

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Global

Immunization is a program whose success or failure in achieving public health impact is often judged on the basis of data generated on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis by health workers in facilities ranging from remote health posts to regional hospitals. Because immunization is a service that can be scheduled (unlike, for example, treatment of ill children) its data can be used by health workers to answer such key management questions as: Are we reaching the people in each locale who need immunization? Are we making progress? Who are we not reaching? Are children starting the immunization schedule but then dropping out? How well do outreach services work? In principle but not always in practice, the answers to these questions can be found by health workers themselves with data that are readily available to them. The importance of data use is highlighted by the inclusion of facility-level microplanning as a core component of the WHO/UNICEF Reaching Every District strategy, used by most countries to strengthen routine immunization (RI).

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Sep 1, 2012

Defining Functional Requirements for Immunization Information Systems

Global

This document contains the products of three workgroup sessions to collaboratively and rigorously define a full range of important IIS functions, referred to here as business processes. This detailed documentation for seventeen such business processes is intended to establish best practice for how an IIS should function in an increasingly e‐health world. The IIS experts who participated in this effort represent local, state and federal level health agencies.

 

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Sep 1, 2012

Defining Functional Requirements for Immunization Information Systems

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Global

This document contains the products of three workgroup sessions to collaboratively and rigorously define a full range of important IIS functions, referred to here as business processes. This detailed documentation for seventeen such business processes is intended to establish best practice for how an IIS should function in an increasingly e‐health world.

Download File: pdf (1.1 MB)

Aug 27, 2012

Nigeria Immunization Fact Sheet

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Nigeria

According to official country reports, infant immunization coverage in Nigeria, as reported by DTP3, increased significantly from 57% in 2008 to 74% in 2010. This was followed by a significant drop to 61% in 2011. These reported coverage improvements were primarily due to the country’s decision in 2006 to add multiple antigens and other child survival interventions to the polio eradication campaigns (now referred to as Immunization Plus Days or IPDs) that are held every 4-6 weeks in the northern polio endemic states and at least twice per year nationally. Given the challenges with disaggregating IPD and routine immunization data sub-nationally, denominator issues, and also increased routine immunization focus nationwide through the Reaching Every Ward (REW) approach, official country estimates have greatly fluctuated since 2007.

Download File: docx (3.9 MB)

Aug 21, 2012

Liberia Routine Immunization Overview

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Liberia

The DHS conducted in 2007 pointed to coverage rates in Liberia that were significantly lower than official country reports.  Despite an increasing trend between 2004 and 2009, WHO/UNICEF estimates illustrate a sharp decrease in coverage over the last two years.  In 2011, Liberia’s immunization program failed to reach 39% (or 56,160) of its target population of children under one year of age with even a first dose of the DTP vaccine.  Twelve percent of the children who began the DTP vaccination series did not complete it (drop out rate between DTP1 and DTP3), as shown in the graph below. Drop-out rates that are higher than 10% typically indicate problems with how immunization services are being delivered, perceived (e.g. friendly and reliable services) and used.   The population’s use of routine immunization services is determined by the availability of, access to, demand for, and acceptance of those services.

Download File: docx (4.2 MB)

Aug 6, 2012

Kenya Routine Immunization Overview

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Kenya

Kenya’s national immunization program was one of the most successful in East Africa in the 1990s.   In the last ten years, Kenya’s immunization coverage for DTP3 has averaged between 73% and 88%. The drop-out rate nationally was reported at 7% in 2009 (see graph below). Coverage has varied, however, between provinces–with some reporting DTP3 below 70% and with DPT1-DPT3 drop-out rates above 10%.  In 2008, a post-election political crisis destabilized the country, particularly in Western, Nyanza and Rift Valley provinces.  This resulted in interruption of health services, including vaccination, during that year.  There were also vaccine stock-outs in 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.  Additionally, the division of districts and creation of new districts (from 78 to 254) has resulted in problems with denominator calculations and difficulty in ensuring fully functioning District Health Management Teams and services in many of the new districts. The recent creation of two separate health ministries with split program functions has also resulted in managerial and financial complications for preventive services like immunization.

Download File: docx (4.3 MB)

Aug 1, 2012

Improving Data Use in Decision Making: An Intervention to Strengthen Health Systems

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Global

Health systems strengthening has become a top priority of many global and national health agendas as a way to improve health outcomes. With the global health context becoming increasingly complex, national health systems are beginning to move away from a focus on disease-specific health responses to comprehensive strengthening of health systems. This paper will discuss the unique role of health data in strengthening the other five building blocks of health systems; define specific interventions to strengthen the use of data in decision making; and provide a framework for developing, monitoring, and evaluating interventions to improve the use of and demand for data.

Download File: pdf (1.2 MB)

Aug 1, 2012

Improving Data Use in Decision Making: An Intervention to Strengthen Health Systems


Global

This paper will discuss the unique role of health data in strengthening the other five building blocks of health systems; define specific interventions to strengthen the use of data in decision making; and provide a framework for developing, monitoring, and evaluating interventions to improve the use of and demand for data (see figure A). The overall aim of the paper is to articulate specific interventions that can improve the demand for and use of data in decision -making so that improvements in the other health building blocks can be realized.

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Jul 27, 2012

Development of a new platform for neglected tropical disease surveillance


Global

An expanded global focus on the control and elimination of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) has called attention to the need to develop and validate surveillance strategies that are cost effective and can be integrated across diseases. This paper describes a multiplex tool for the sensitive detection of antibody responses to NTDs as well as vaccine preventable diseases, malaria, and waterborne and zoonotic infections. The assay platform is robust, can be performed with either serum or dried blood spots and can be adapted to local epidemiological conditions and public health priorities. Multiplex assays open the door to conducting routine serosurveillance for NTDs through demographic health surveillance or malaria indicator surveys.

Download File: pdf (366 KB)

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