Journal article

Surveys of measles vaccination coverage in eastern and southern Africa: a review of quality and methods used

Vaccination coverage surveys - Publication abstract:

Objective

To assess the methods used in the evaluation of measles vaccination coverage, identify quality concerns and provide recommendations for improvement.

Methods

We reviewed surveys that were conducted to evaluate supplementary measles immunization activities in eastern and southern Africa during 2012 and 2013. We investigated the organization(s) undertaking each survey, survey design, sample size, the numbers of study clusters and children per study cluster, recording of immunizations and methods of analysis. We documented sampling methods at the level of clusters, households and individual children. We also assessed the length of training for field teams at national and regional levels, the composition of teams and the supervision provided.

Findings

The surveys were conducted in Comoros, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Of the 13 reports we reviewed, there were weaknesses in 10 of them for ethical clearance, 9 for sample size calculation, 6 for sampling methods, 12 for training structures, 13 for supervision structures and 11 for data analysis.

Conclusion

We recommend improvements in the documentation of routine and supplementary immunization, via home-based vaccination cards or other records. For surveys conducted after supplementary immunization, a standard protocol is required. Finally, we recommend that standards be developed for report templates and for the technical review of protocols and reports. This would ensure that the results of vaccination coverage surveys are accurate, comparable, reliable and valuable for programme improvement.

Languages

  • English

Journal

WHO Bulletin

Type

Journal article

Categories

  • Programme management

Topic references

COV-SURVEY-PUBS

TitleAuthorYearTypeLanguage
2005-06 and 2011-12 Honduras Demographic and Health Survey Analysis of Vaccination Timeliness, Co-administration and Factors Associated with Vaccination Status - Draft Report of FindingsCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), WHO Regional Office for the Americas (PAHO)2014Case studyEnglish
A computer simulation of household sampling schemes for health surveys in developing countriesS. Bennett, A. Radalowicz, V. Vella, A. Tomkins1994Journal articleEnglish
An Assessment of the Quality of National Child Immunization Coverage Estimates in Population-based SurveysBrown2002Journal articleEnglish
Ascertainment of childhood vaccination histories in northern Malawi.A. C. Crampin, A. Jahn, A. Katsulukuta, A. Khunga, D. Mwagomba, J. Mwafilaso, K. Branson, N. McGrath, P. E. M. Fine, R. E. Mkisi, S. Floyd, V. MwinukaJournal articleEnglish
Assessment of neonatal tetanus elimination in an African setting by lot quality assurance cluster sampling (LQA-CS)K. Msambichaka, E. Mabuzane, M. Munyoro, F. Shirehwa, R. Biellik, M. Birmingham, B. Cotter, V. Bremer, G. Stroh2003Journal articleEnglish
Assessment of vaccine coverage by 30 cluster sampling technique in rural Gandhinagar, GujaratJay K. Sheth, Kartik N. Trivedi, Jayshree B. Mehta, Umesh N. Oza2012Journal articleEnglish
Catching-up with pentavalent vaccine: Exploring reasons behind lower rotavirus vaccine coverage in El SalvadorEduardo Suarez-Castaneda, Eleanor Burnett, Miguel Elas, Rafael Baltrons, Lorenzo Pezzoli, Brendan Flannery, David Kleinbaum, Lucia Helena de Oliveira, M. Carolina Danovaro-Holliday2015Journal articleEnglish
Cluster sampling to assess immunization coverage: a review of experience with a simplified sampling method.R. H. Henderson, T. SundaresanJournal articleEnglish
Cluster-sample surveys and lot quality assurance sampling to evaluate yellow fever immunisation coverage following a national campaign, Bolivia, 2007.Pezzoli2009Journal articleEnglish
Comparison of two cluster sampling methods for health surveys in developing countriesSteve Bennett, Alpha Njie, Paul Milligan2004Journal articleEnglish
Comparison of two survey methodologies to assess vaccination coverage.Alemayehu Worku, Elizabeth T. Luman, Lisa Cairns, Rebecca Martin, Yemane BerhaneJournal articleEnglish
Don't spin the pen: two alternative methods for second-stage sampling in urban cluster surveysAngela M. C. Rose, Jean-Paul Guthmann , Rebecca F. GraisJournal articleEnglish
Estimating vaccination coverage: validity of household-retained vaccination cards and parental recallElizabeth T. Luman, Mariana Sablan, Tove K. RymanJournal articleEnglish
From Agadez to Zinder: estimating coverage of the MenAfriVac™ conjugate vaccine against meningococcal serogroup A in Niger, September 2010 - January 2012.Aboubacar Adakal, Aboubacar Issoufou, Harouna Yacouba, Ibrahim Chaibou, Ide Hinsa, Idrissa Maiga, Lorenzo Pezzoli, Nam Seon Beck, Saverio Caini, Sung Hye KimJournal articleEnglish
Immunization coverage and its determinants among children born in 2008-2009 by questionnaire survey in Zhejiang, ChinaQian Li, Yaping Chen, Xiaohua Qi, Yu Hu, Enfu Chen2015Journal articleEnglish
Impact of methodological "shortcuts" in conducting public health surveys: Results from a vaccination coverage surveyElizabeth T. Luman, Kate M. Shaw, Mariana Sablan, Mary M. McCauley, Shannon StokleyJournal articleEnglish
Maternal recall error of child vaccination status in a developing nation.Joseph J. Valadez, Leisa H. WeldJournal articleEnglish
Measles and rubella vaccination coverage in Haiti, 2012: progress towards verifying and challenges to maintaining measles and rubella elimination.Tohme2014Journal articleEnglish
PAHO Immunization Newsletter - December 2014 (Honduras)WHO Regional Office for the Americas (PAHO)2014Journal articleEnglish
Performance of small cluster surveys and the clustered LQAS design to estimate local-level vaccination coverage in MaliFrancesco Checchi, Florence Fermon, Aurore Taconet, Johanne Sekkenes, Marie Hortense Koudika, Thomas Roederer, Fabienne Nackers, Margarita Riera-Montes, Andrea Minetti, Rebecca F. Grais, Albouhary Touré2012Journal articleEnglish
Potential for improving age-appropriate vaccination coverage by maximizing the 18-month well-child visit.Shimabukuro2007Journal articleEnglish
Ranking states' immunization coverage: an example from the National Immunization Survey.Lawrence E. Barker, Philip J. Smith, Robert B. Gerzoff, Elizabeth T. Luman, Mary M. McCauley, Tara W. Strine2005Journal articleEnglish
Routine childhood vaccination programme coverage, El Salvador, 2011-In search of timeliness.Suarez-Castaneda2014Journal articleEnglish
Socioeconomic inequalities and vaccination coverage: results of an immunisation coverage survey in 27 Brazilian capitals, 2007-2008.Brendan Flannery, José Cássio de Moraes, Manoel Carlos Sampaio de Almeida Ribeiro, Rita Barradas BarataJournal articleEnglish
Surveys of measles vaccination coverage in eastern and southern Africa: a review of quality and methods usedJethro M. Chakauya, Emelda Dzeka, Balcha G. Masresha, Fussum Daniel, Nestor Shivute, Reinhard Kaiser, Messeret E. ShibeshiJournal articleEnglish
The accuracy of mother's reports about their children's vaccination statusB. P. Loevinsohn, E. T. Gareaballah1989Journal articleEnglish, French
The accuracy of mothers' reports of child vaccination: evidence from rural EgyptRay Langsten, Kenneth Hill1998Journal articleEnglish
Vaccination coverage in children and adolescents in Mexico: vaccinated, under vaccinated and non vaccinatedLourdes García-García, Airain Alejandra Montoya-Rodríguez, María Hernández-Serrato, Leticia Ferreyra-Reyes, Martha María Téllez-Rojo, Belem Trejo-Valdivia, José Luis Díaz-Ortega, Elizabeth Ferreira-Guerrero2013Journal articleSpanish
Vaccination coverage in Haiti: results from the 2009 national survey.Rainey2012Journal articleEnglish
Vaccination coverage of children aged 12-23 months in Gaziantep, Turkey: comparative results of two studies carried out by lot quality technique: what changed after family medicine?Birgul Ozcirpici, Ferhat Coskun, Hakan Tuzun, Neriman Aydin, Servet OzgurJournal articleEnglish
Vaccination coverage of health care personnel working in health care facilities in France: results of a national survey, 2009.Céline Ciotti, Daniel Levy-Bruhl, Dominique Abiteboul, Elisabeth Bouvet, Gérard Pellissier, Jean-Paul Guthmann , Laure FonteneauJournal articleEnglish
Vaccination visits in early childhood: just one more visit to be fully vaccinatedDanni Daniels, Elizabeth T. Luman, R. Monina Klevens, Shannon StokleyJournal articleEnglish
Vaccination Week in the Americas, 2011: an opportunity to assess the routine vaccination program in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.Daniel Sánchez, Samir V. Sodha, Hannah J. Kurtis, Gladys Ghisays, Kathleen A. Wannemuehler, M. Carolina Danovaro-Holliday, Alba María Ropero-Álvarez2015Journal articleEnglish
Validity of reported vaccination coverage in 45 countries.Christopher J. L. Murray, Bakhuti Shengelia, Neeru Gupta, Saba Moussavi, Ajay Tandon, Michel Thieren2003Journal articleEnglish
Varicella vaccine uptake in Shandong Province, ChinaAiqiang Xu, Qing Xu, Xueqiang Fang, Stephanie Bialek, Chengbin Wang2012Journal articleEnglish
Whom and where are we not vaccinating? Coverage after the introduction of a new conjugate vaccine against group A meningococcus in Niger in 2010.Harouna Yacouba, Lorenzo Pezzoli, Mamoudou H. Djingarey, Sung Hye Kim, Thomas F Wierzba, Tiekoura Coulibaly, William A. PereaJournal articleEnglish
Yellow fever vaccination coverage following massive emergency immunization campaigns in rural Uganda, May 2011: a community cluster surveyJames Bagonza, Elizeus Rutebemberwa, Malimbo Mugaga, Nathan Tumuhamye, Issa Makumbi2013Journal articleEnglish