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May 25, 2021

Tanzania’s Immunization Vaccine Development Program newsletter

Tanzania's Immunization Vaccine Development (IVD) Program Newsletter

Subjects: People, Practices, Products
Countries: Tanzania

This year, the immunization program in Tanzania continued to ensure every child is reached with lifesaving vaccines through adequate availability and distribution of vaccines and cold chain equipment. It also helped promote and expand outreach services, as well as generate demand within communities. In this issue of Tanzania's Immunization Vaccine Development (IVD) Program newsletter, IVD shares progress from the past year.

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Feb 12, 2021

Compasses when there are no maps: The growing importance of adaptive management to the development sector and the role of real-time data

PATH

Subjects: Packaging, People, Policies, Practices

In a world with dynamic population movements, outbreaks with cross-border implications, and increasingly politicized health issues, linear and inflexible approaches to global health programs are ineffective. Adaptive management has emerged as one possible approach that embodies iteration and adaptability in program design and implementation to help with navigating complex and dynamic environments. Real-time data systems can strengthen adaptive management by generating data that can more rapidly inform tactical adaptations, changes, and future planning. This white paper challenges traditional project management in the global development sector. It encourages donors, policymakers, implementers, and ministries of health to set a new precedent of adaptive programming.

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Sep 22, 2020

Determinants of scale-up from a small pilot to a national electronic immunization registry in Vietnam: Qualitative evaluation

Journal of Medical Internet Research

Subjects: eHealth, eHealth Plan, People, Policies, Products
Countries: Viet Nam

Digital health innovations can improve health system performance, yet previous experience has shown that many innovations do not advance beyond the pilot stage to achieve scale. Vietnam’s National Immunization Information System (NIIS) began as a series of digital health pilots, first initiated in 2010, and was officially launched nationwide in 2017. The NIIS is one of the few examples of an electronic immunization registry (EIR) at national scale in low- and middle-income countries. This qualitative study explored the facilitators and barriers to national scale-up of the EIR in Vietnam. Qualitative data were collected in 2019 through in-depth key informant interviews and desk review. The results highlight the importance of the measured, iterative approach that was taken to gradually expand a series of small pilots to nationwide scale. The findings from this study can be used to inform other countries considering, introducing, or in the process of scaling an EIR or other digital health innovations.

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Aug 25, 2020

Determinants of facility-level use of electronic immunization registries in Tanzania and Zambia: An observational analysis

Global Health: Science and Practice

Subjects: People, Policies, Practices

As more countries transition from paper-based to electronic immunization registries (EIRs) to collect and track individual immunization data, guidance is needed for successful adoption and use of these systems. Little research is available on the determinants of EIR use soon after introduction. The BID Initiative published an observational study assessing the determinants of facility health care workers’ use of new EIRs in Tanzania and Zambia. The results highlight the importance of organizational and behavioral factors in explaining sustained EIR use. Read the full manuscript in Global Health: Science and Practice.

   

Jun 17, 2020

Assessing the incremental costs and savings of introducing electronic immunization registries and stock management systems: Evidence from the BID Initiative in Tanzania and Zambia

Pan African Medical Journal

Subjects: People, Practices, Tools
Countries: Tanzania, Zambia

Poor data quality and use negatively impact immunization programs in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In addition, many LMICs have a shortage of health personnel, and staff available have demanding workloads across several health programs. In order to address these challenges, the BID Initiative introduced a comprehensive suite of interventions, including an electronic immunization registry aimed at improving the quality, reliability, and use of immunization data in Tanzania and Zambia. BID conducted a micro-costing study to estimate the economic costs of service delivery and logistics for the immunization programs with and without the BID interventions in a sample of health facilities and district program offices in each country. The full article can be found in the Pan African Medical Journal.

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Apr 10, 2020

Vietnam’s scale-up from a district-level pilot to a national-scale electronic immunization registry

PATH

Subjects: Applications, Policies, Practices, Products
Countries: Viet Nam

Vietnam’s immunization registry system prior to 2009 was a paper-based logbook that was prone to errors, time-consuming, and burdensome for health workers. Starting in 2009, the Vietnam National Expanded Program on Immunization (NEPI) and their partner PATH began visualizing the possibilities and benefits that a national-scale electronic immunization registry (EIR) and vaccine-stock-management system could bring to Vietnam. In 2017, the National Immunization Information System (NIIS)—a sustainably planned, government-run, nationwide EIR system—was officially launched along with national mandates on system use. Much of the success of the scale-up of the Vietnam EIR can be attributed to three key factors: (a) planning for scale from the beginning, (b) commitment from the government, and (c) technical partnerships. The story of scaling up, however, did not come without challenges and hurdles. This case study reviews Vietnam’s journey from district pilot to national-level EIR.

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Mar 31, 2020

Perceptions of factors influencing the introduction and adoption of electronic immunization registries in Tanzania and Zambia: a mixed methods study

Implementation Science Communications

Subjects: People, Practices
Countries: Tanzania, Zambia

As technology has become cheaper and more accessible, health programs are adopting digital health interventions (DHI) to improve the provision of and demand for health services. These interventions are complex and require strong coordination and support across different health system levels and government departments, and they need significant capacities in technology and information to be properly implemented. Electronic immunization registries (EIRs) are types of DHI used to capture, store, access, and share individual-level, longitudinal health information in digitized records. The BID Initiative worked in partnership with the governments of Tanzania and Zambia to introduce an EIR at the sub-national level in both countries within 5 years as part of a multi-component complex intervention package focusing on data use capacity-building. We aimed to gather and describe learnings from the BID experience by conducting a framework-based mixed methods study to describe perceptions of factors that influenced scale-up of the EIR. Read the full article in Implementation Science Communications.

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Feb 25, 2020

The catalytic potential of rapid, iterative software development

PATH

Subjects: Applications, eLMIS, Hardware, openMRS, Packaging, Practices, Products, Software, Standards, Tools
Countries: Zambia, Kenya, Pakistan

Pakistan, Zambia, and Kenya are among a growing number of countries implementing electronic immunization registries (EIRs) to improve data quality and health facility performance. But EIRs can be costly to design and introduce. This case study explores the localization and adaptation of OpenSRP’s immunization module, the benefits of iterating on open-source software, and lessons learned during use in Pakistan, Zambia, and Kenya.

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Nov 26, 2019

The costs of developing, deploying and maintaining electronic immunisation registries in Tanzania and Zambia

BMJ Global Health

Subjects: Hardware, Immunization Registry, Packaging, Policies, Practices, Products, Software
Countries: Tanzania, Zambia

Between 2013 and 2018, BID designed, developed, and introduced an electronic immunization registry in three regions in Tanzania and one province in Zambia. The Initiative’s financial records were used to account for the financial costs of designing and developing the EIRs, BID staff time, expenditures for rolling out the EIR systems and the related suite of interventions to health facilities, and recurrent costs. Total financial costs, cost per facility and cost per child were calculated in 2018 US$. By documenting the costs associated with introducing an EIR, BID hopes to help other countries introduce more affordable platforms for their own health landscapes. Read the full article in BMJ Global Health.

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