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Methodology
Results
Catchment area and target population
The findings of the evaluation were as follows:
University College Hospital is located in the Ibadan
North Local Government Area (LGA) of Oyo state. The
LGA has a population of 374,948 (2011 estimate) based
on 2006 census estimates and is divided into 12 admin-
istrative wards. The wards that make up the LGA in-
clude Oke-Are, Nalende, Yemetu, Agodi, Bashorun,
Sabo, Sango, Ago-Tagba, Old Bodija, Samonda, and
Agbowo. UCH is located within the Old Bodija ward,
which has a population of 41,245. Only three health
facilities are recognized as immunization clinics in the
ward (UCH, Institute of Child Health [also within
UCH], and the Obasa Health Facility). The UCH clinic
had an annual target population of 997 for children
Service delivery
The services provided by the clinic include the follow-
ing: Infant welfare clinic; Yellow card processing; TB
screening; Child and adult immunization; and outreach
programs. The UCH immunization clinic mainly offers
fixed sessions and only provides outreach services when
there is a need, such as during outbreaks. The clinic is
open throughout the week (Mondays to Fridays) be-
tween 8am and 5pm. The largest number of clients is
seen on Wednesday and Thursday because all of the
vaccines are administered to the clients, unlike other
days. Public health nursing personnel and doctors from
the Family Medicine Department attend to the medical
needs of clients on every clinic day. The vaccines ad-
ministered include the following: Monday (BCG, HBV,
OPV, and other special/non-routine vaccines); Tuesday
(yellow fever and TB screening); Wednesday (BCG,
HBV, OPV, DPT, HIB, and non-routine vaccines);
Thursday (BCG, HBV, OPV, DPT, HIB, measles, and
TT); and Friday (special vaccines, child welfare, and TB
screening).
<
1year of age, and 1246 for pregnant women, as ob-
tained from the LGA immunization unit. The communi-
ties served by the UCH clinic include Awosika, Adeyi,
Abedo, Osuntokun, Ondo, Ajibade, Obasa, Awolowo,
Ekiti, and Coca-Cola.
Data collection and instrument
The information gathered during the assessment was
both qualitative and quantitative on the five operational
and the three supportive components of the immuniza-
tion system. Three methods of data collection were used
during the assessment, and include the following: Re-
cord review, extracting data on the vaccines used, and
vaccination coverage from immunization records from
January 2007 and December 2011; Interviews, discus-
sion, and probing of the head of the immunization clinic
using a semi-structured interviewer administered ques-
tionnaire adapted from the WHO assessment question-
naire, with categories based on the operational and sup-
portive components of the immunization service deliv-
ery, including, vaccine supply, disease surveillance, lo-
gistic and advocacy, capacity building, and financial
management; and Observations during immunization
sessions
For fixed sessions, planning is continuous and daily due
to the daily administration of vaccines. Work plans are
non-existent in the clinic, and all of the standard data
management tools are not available. Specifically, only
an improvised immunization register and the child
health card are available, while the tally sheet, immuni-
zation summary sheet, and immunization coverage
monitoring chart are not available. Thus, monitoring for
dropouts, vaccine wastage, categorization, and prioriti-
zation is nearly impossible. The form for recording ad-
verse events following immunization (AEFI) are not
available, thus there is no method for tracking AEFI and
none has been reported in the past five years.
The staffs administer the vaccines correctly (the correct
site, route, and dose). The staff practice injection safety
and dispose of used syringes/needles immediately into
the safety box. The staffs record each vaccine on the
child immunization card correctly, but do not tally cor-
rectly on the tally sheet. The immunization registers
used are ordinary notebooks, and thus are not correctly
filled out and there are no mechanisms to track vaccine
doses that are due or to track defaults. The staffs are
aware of the standard operating procedures and neces-
sary forms to complete if there is a report of an AEFI,
but the forms are not available.
Data Analysis
Data on immunization coverage for the five year period
was entered into Microsoft excel. In order to compare
the trends in the coverage rates, the percentage coverage
for infants and adults vaccines were computed for the
period the review covered. The cumulative monitoring
charts for DPT1 & DPT3, BCG & Measles were also
computed, as well as their dropout rates.
Ethical consideration
Immunization coverage for the five year period
Permission to carry out the assessment was obtained
from the Chief Medical director of the University Col-
lege hospital. Permission to use the records of the immu-
nization clinic was obtained from the head of the unit.
The coverage rate for nearly all of the vaccines was
>100% as a result of the low yearly target population of
the hospital estimated by the LGA from the census
population of the ward where the hospital is located.
Except for the coverage rate of BCG, which peaked in
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011, other vaccine coverage peaked in 2009, after
which there was a decline (Figure1). The DPT1-DPT3