Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #109769

Mohamed Ibrahim, MD, Abt Associates, PHRplus Yemen, 49-1 Tourist City , P.O. Box 22333, Sana'a, Yemen, 967 1 309 917, ibrahim_tt2@hotmail.com and Anton Luchitsky, MD, Partners for Health Reform Plus, PATH, 4800 Mongomery Lane, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814.

USAID/Yemen's Partners for Health Reform Plus Project, in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health, conducted a household immunization survey in Thula district in Amran governorate, one of the five USAID-targeted governorates in Yemen. The main goals of the survey were: 1) to count the number of children under one year and women aged 15-45 years in catchment areas of four health facilities; 2) to determine their immunization status and provide vaccinations to eligible children and women; 3) to identify what prevents people from being immunized in a timely fashion or at all.

Following a one-day training, the survey was conducted by mobile teams consisting of three district health workers and supervisors. The teams were provided with data collection forms, registers, EPI vaccines and vaccination cards.

The survey results provided evidence that the actual target population differed from administrative estimates by as much as 20-30%, that the actual TT2+ coverage of childbearing-aged women was nearly twice as low as the reported one, and that the lack of female vaccinators, the remoteness of health facilities and the fear of contraceptive effects of immunization (spread by rumours) were the leading reasons for not getting vaccinations. Having analyzed the survey results the governorate and the district EPI management modified the strategy for improving immunization coverage, which now places a greater emphasis on outreach immunization work, health education of women and the use of female vaccinators. The work also helped integrate the immunization and other programs using the same primary data. Periodic house-to-house visits performed by health facility staff in their catchment areas will become an essential tool for the development of a new immunization MIS in Yemen.

Learning Objectives:

• 1)Recognize that reliability of routine administrative data in some countries presents a challenge for effective immunization program planning, decision making and evaluating impact of interventions;
• 2)Demonstrate that periodic (annual) house-to-house visits performed by health facility staff in their catchment areas can significantly improve the accuracy of population data for immunization and other primary care programs and provide opportunities for improving vaccination coverage and health education.

Keywords: Immunizations,

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation