The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #51392

William Weiss, MA, CORE Group Polio Partners Project, and Center for International Emergency, Disaster and Refugee Studies, at the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N.Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-614-6172, bweiss@jhsph.edu

BACKGROUND: Mass immunization campaigns (MIC) are one of four key strategies for polio eradication polio. MIC are used in low vaccination coverage countries for providing the “second opportunity” measles vaccine for sustained mortality reduction from measles, and in refugee populations to protect populations from measles, diphtheria and meningitis. Well-organized campaigns achieve high coverage levels (>90%). An important question is whether remaining unvaccinated children are distributed randomly or clustered together. This is an important question because outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases occur among pockets of unvaccinated person living amidst a high-coverage population. This paper determines the distribution of unvaccinated children following a MIC in Mahottari District, Nepal, March 2002. This district is high-risk for polio importation as it shares a border with India with current polio transmission; borders are open with considerable population mobility. The paper discusses the usefulness and feasibility of using LQAS techniques for evaluating IMC.

METHODS: The study applied Lot Quality Sampling (LQAS) techniques to three high-risk sites to determine if they contained pockets of unvaccinated children. High-risk sites were identified through qualitative methods (key informant interviews, observations of the campaign).

RESULTS: One of three sites was identified as having a pocket of unvaccinated campaign. Reasons for missed vaccinations were provided by caretakers.

CONCLUSIONS: LQAS techniques are useful for identifying pockets of unvaccinated children following an immunization campaign. The LQAS techniques require minimal resources and can therefore be used on a routine basis following all mass immunization campaigns.

Learning Objectives:

• · Participants will learn to apply LQAS to identify pockets of low coverage of health knowledge or practices; and,
• · Participants will gain understanding of evaluation strategies for mass immunization campaigns.

Keywords: Evaluation, International Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.