264464 Data quality auditing for the Tanzania vitamin A supplementation program

Wednesday, October 31, 2012 : 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

Margaret Benjamin Lyatuu, MPH , Tanzania, Helen Keller International, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Christina Nyhus Dhillon, PhD, MPH , Tanzania, Helen Keller International, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Heather Katcher, PhD, RD , Kenya Regional Office, Helen Keller International, Nairobi, Kenya
Francis Modaha , Food Science and Technology, Tanzania Food and Nutrition Center - TFNC, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Background: Distribution of Vitamin A Supplementation (VAS) in Tanzania is conducted twice-yearly and has contributed to the reduction in under-five mortality from 147/1000 to 112/1000. After each campaign, reports generated by districts using tally sheets show consistently higher coverage rates than other assessments including Tanzania Demographic Health Surveys (TDHS) and Post Event Coverage surveys (PECs). These discrepancies called for a systematic review to identify reasons for over-reporting through tally sheet data.

Methodology: A random sampling of health facilities was conducted within the eight health zones in Tanzania. Tally sheet data and submitted coverage reports were collected from each health facility, and coverage was recalculated to determine if it was reported correctly on reports from that facility and from higher levels.

Results: Tally sheets and reporting forms were available in 84% and 71% of facilities, respectively. Only 50% of the visited facilities had an operational definition of how to calculate coverage. Reports could not be found in 47% of the visited facilities. For the reports that were found, 24% of them had no missing information and 69% had data transferred correctly from the original reports to reports from higher levels. When coverage was recalculated, discrepancies were noted in 25% of reports.

Conclusion: Coverage reports based on tally sheets face multiple sources of error including incorrect calculations by district officials, incomplete reports and incorrect data capture when transferring information from lower to higher levels. Given these limitations, additional monitoring is necessary to confirm the accuracy of tally sheet data.

Learning Areas:
Conduct evaluation related to programs, research, and other areas of practice
Provision of health care to the public

Learning Objectives:
Discuss the limitations of measuring coverage using tally sheets

Keywords: Nutrition, International Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the Senior Nutrition Officer at Helen Keller International Tanzania and designed and conducted the data quality audit described in the abstract.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.