Home-based records and vaccination appointment stickers as parental reminders to reduce vaccination dropout in Indonesia: A cluster-randomized controlled trial

Interventions addressing routine childhood immunization and its behavioral and social drivers

Introduction

Despite the advances in vaccination, there are still several challenges in reaching millions of children in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In this review, we present an extensive summary of the various strategies used for improving routine immunization in LMICs to aid program implementers in designing vaccination interventions.

Methods

Experimental and quasi-experimental impact evaluations conducted in LMICs evaluating the effectiveness of interventions in improving routine immunization of children aged 0-5 years or the intermediate outcomes were included from 3ie's review of systematic reviews. Some additional impact evaluation studies published in recent years in select LMICs with large number of unvaccinated children were also included. Studies were coded to identify interventions and the barriers in the study context using the intervention framework developed in 3ie's Evidence Gap Map and the WHO's Behavioral and Social Drivers (BeSD) of vaccination framework, respectively. Qualitative analysis of the content was conducted to analyze the intervention strategies and the vaccination barriers that they addressed.

Results and conclusion

One hundred and forty-two impact evaluations were included to summarize the interventions. To address attitudinal and knowledge related barriers to vaccination and to motivate caregivers, sensitization and educational programs, media campaigns, and monetary or non-monetary incentives to caregivers, that may or may not be conditional upon certain health behaviors, have been used across contexts. To improve knowledge of vaccination, its place, time, and schedule, automated voice messages and written or pictorial messages have been used as standalone or multicomponent strategies. Interventions used to improve service quality included training and education of health workers and providing monetary or non-monetary perks to them or sending reminders to them on different aspects of provision of vaccination services. Interventions like effective planning or outreach activities, follow-up of children, tracking of children that have missed vaccinations, pay-for-performance schemes and health system strengthening have also been used to improve service access and quality. Interventions aimed at mobilizing and collaborating with the community to impact social norms, attitudes, and empower communities to make health decisions have also been widely implemented.

Predictors of vaccination card retention in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana

BACKGROUND

The home-based vaccination card is an important health record for determining vaccination status of children during surveys, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. However, there are limited evidence on the factors that influence its retention in Ghana. We assessed the predictors of vaccination card retention in Tamale Metropolis, Ghana.

METHODS

We conducted a cross-sectional study from 21st December 2022 to 10th January 2023 among children aged 0-59 months in the Tamale Metropolis. Multi-stage sampling was used to select caregivers of children aged 0-59 months for enrolment in the study. Data were collected using validated questionnaire through face-to-face interviews of caregivers. A vaccination card was retained if it was presented for physical inspection by research assistants. The factors that influence vaccination card retention were determined in a multivariate logistic regression analysis at p<0.05.

RESULTS

A total of 1,532 eligible children were enrolled in this study. Vaccination card retention was 91.5%. Negative predictors of card retention included: being resident in the Nyohini (AOR = 0.28; 95% CI = 0.15-0.50) and Tamale Central (AOR = 0.51; 95% CI = 0.29-0.90) sub-Metro areas and being caregivers of children aged 24-59 months (AOR = 0.39; 95% CI = 0.22-0.68). On the other hand, paying for the vaccination card (AOR = 5.14; 95% CI = 2.95-8.95) was a positive predictor of vaccination card retention.

CONCLUSION

In this study, vaccination card retention among children aged 0-59 months was higher than national estimates. Vaccination card retention was mainly influenced by sub-Metro area, age of child and mode of acquisition of the card such as out-of-pocket payment. There is need to design and deliver tailored messages including the importance of vaccination card retention to caregivers of children based on geographic context. Additionally, the policy on sale of vaccination cards should be revised to allow for cost sharing to enhance its retention.

Interventions for improving coverage of childhood immunisation in low- and middle-income countries

BACKGROUND

Immunisation plays a major role in reducing childhood morbidity and mortality. Getting children immunised against potentially fatal and debilitating vaccine-preventable diseases remains a challenge despite the availability of efficacious vaccines, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. With the introduction of new vaccines, this becomes increasingly difficult. There is therefore a current need to synthesise the available evidence on the strategies used to bridge this gap. This is a second update of the Cochrane Review first published in 2011 and updated in 2016, and it focuses on interventions for improving childhood immunisation coverage in low- and middle-income countries.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the effectiveness of intervention strategies to boost demand and supply of childhood vaccines, and sustain high childhood immunisation coverage in low- and middle-income countries.

SEARCH METHODS

We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Global Index Medicus (11 July 2022). We searched Embase, LILACS, and Sociological Abstracts (2 September 2014). We searched WHO ICTRP and ClinicalTrials.gov (11 July 2022). In addition, we screened reference lists of relevant systematic reviews for potentially eligible studies, and carried out a citation search for 14 of the included studies (19 February 2020).

SELECTION CRITERIA

Eligible studies were randomised controlled trials (RCTs), non-randomised RCTs (nRCTs), controlled before-after studies, and interrupted time series conducted in low- and middle-income countries involving children that were under five years of age, caregivers, and healthcare providers.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

We independently screened the search output, reviewed full texts of potentially eligible articles, assessed the risk of bias, and extracted data in duplicate, resolving discrepancies by consensus. We conducted random-effects meta-analyses and used GRADE to assess the certainty of the evidence.

MAIN RESULTS

Forty-one studies involving 100,747 participants are included in the review. Twenty studies were cluster-randomised and 15 studies were individually randomised controlled trials. Six studies were quasi-randomised. The studies were conducted in four upper-middle-income countries (China, Georgia, Mexico, Guatemala), 11 lower-middle-income countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Nepal, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Zimbabwe), and three lower-income countries (Afghanistan, Mali, Rwanda). The interventions evaluated in the studies were health education (seven studies), patient reminders (13 studies), digital register (two studies), household incentives (three studies), regular immunisation outreach sessions (two studies), home visits (one study), supportive supervision (two studies), integration of immunisation services with intermittent preventive treatment of malaria (one study), payment for performance (two studies), engagement of community leaders (one study), training on interpersonal communication skills (one study), and logistic support to health facilities (one study). We judged nine of the included studies to have low risk of bias; the risk of bias in eight studies was unclear and 24 studies had high risk of bias. We found low-certainty evidence that health education (risk ratio (RR) 1.36, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.15 to 1.62; 6 studies, 4375 participants) and home-based records (RR 1.36, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.75; 3 studies, 4019 participants) may improve coverage with DTP3/Penta 3 vaccine. Phone calls/short messages may have little or no effect on DTP3/Penta 3 vaccine uptake (RR 1.12, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.25; 6 studies, 3869 participants; low-certainty evidence); wearable reminders probably have little or no effect on DTP3/Penta 3 uptake (RR 1.02, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.07; 2 studies, 1567 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). Use of community leaders in combination with provider intervention probably increases the uptake of DTP3/Penta 3 vaccine (RR 1.37, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.69; 1 study, 2020 participants; moderate-certainty evidence). We are uncertain about the effect of immunisation outreach on DTP3/Penta 3 vaccine uptake in children under two years of age (RR 1.32, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.56; 1 study, 541 participants; very low-certainty evidence). We are also uncertain about the following interventions improving full vaccination of children under two years of age: training of health providers on interpersonal communication skills (RR 5.65, 95% CI 3.62 to 8.83; 1 study, 420 participants; very low-certainty evidence), and home visits (RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.45; 1 study, 419 participants; very low-certainty evidence). The same applies to the effect of training of health providers on interpersonal communication skills on the uptake of DTP3/Penta 3 by one year of age (very low-certainty evidence). The integration of immunisation with other services may, however, improve full vaccination (RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.44; 1 study, 1700 participants; low-certainty evidence).

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS

Health education, home-based records, a combination of involvement of community leaders with health provider intervention, and integration of immunisation services may improve vaccine uptake. The certainty of the evidence for the included interventions ranged from moderate to very low. Low certainty of the evidence implies that the true effect of the interventions might be markedly different from the estimated effect. Further, more rigorous RCTs are, therefore, required to generate high-certainty evidence to inform policy and practice.

Barriers to and Facilitators of Hepatitis B Vaccination among the Adult Population in Indonesia: A Mixed Methods Study

To reach the goals of the Global Hepatitis Elimination 2030 program, Indonesia is now preparing a new regulation for hepatitis B vaccinations for adult population. This study aimed to determine the factors influencing vaccine uptake for hepatitis B in the adult population, and identify barriers to, and facilitators of, hepatitis B vaccination programmes. An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was implemented in this study. We conducted a survey involving 893 participants in the general population followed by 14 in-depth interviews with health providers. The survey found that only 15% (95% confidence interval 13-18%) of participants received at least one dose of the hepatitis B vaccine. Factors associated with vaccine uptake were, living in Yogyakarta compared to living in Aceh, having secondary and higher education compared to primary education, working as a health worker compared to working in other sectors, and having health insurance that covered hepatitis B vaccination compared to not having such health insurance. Our qualitative study also identified several barriers to the adult hepatitis B vaccination programme in Indonesia such as the high cost of vaccination, lack of vaccine availability in certain areas, limited human resources to implement the hepatitis B vaccination programme, and the ineffective dissemination of hepatitis B vaccination. This study highlights that accessibility and affordability of vaccinations are important determinants of vaccination uptake that should be taken into account when planning vaccination campaigns.

Parental Reminder Strategies and the Cost Implication for Improved Immunisation Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Getting children vaccinated amidst prevailing barriers to immunisation has been challenging in both developed and developing countries. To address these problems, studies on parental reminder strategies were conducted to improve immunisation outcomes in children. These led to the development of different parental reminder interventions. This review systematically reviews different parental interventions and their cost implication for improved immunisations. Five online databases; Medline Complete, the Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Literature [CINAHL], Academic search premier, SPORTDiscus, and Health Source Nursing/Academic were searched using search terms. A total of 24 articles that met the inclusion criteria were included in this review. Studies that provided sufficient information were included for meta-analysis using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version three, while narrative synthesis was used for the other studies. Results indicate that a heterogeneous and low-quality certainty of evidence on parental voice calls (OR 4.752, 95% CI 1.846-12.231, p = 0.001) exists in improving immunisation coverage. Regarding immunisation timeliness, a high-quality certainty of evidence on Short Message Services (SMS)-delivered health education messages (OR 2.711 95% CI 1.387-5.299, p = 0.004) had more effect on timely immunisation uptake. The average cost of SMS-delivered parental reminder interventions for improved immunisation outcomes was USD 0.50. The study concludes that mobile technology is a promising, cost-effective strategy for improved immunisation outcomes.

Timeliness of routine childhood vaccination in 103 low-and middle-income countries, 1978-2021: A scoping review to map measurement and methodological gaps

Empiric studies exploring the timeliness of routine vaccination in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) have gained momentum in the last decade. Nevertheless, there is emerging evidence suggesting that these studies have key measurement and methodological gaps that limit their comparability and utility. Hence, there is a need to identify, and document these gaps which could inform the design, conduct, and reporting of future research on the timeliness of vaccination. We synthesised the literature to determine the methodological and measurement gaps in the assessment of vaccination timeliness in LMICs. We searched five electronic databases for peer-reviewed articles in English and French that evaluated vaccination timeliness in LMICs, and were published between 01 January 1978, and 01 July 2021. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts and reviewed full texts of relevant articles, following the guidance framework for scoping reviews by the Joanna Briggs Institute. From the 4263 titles identified, we included 224 articles from 103 countries. China (40), India (27), and Kenya (23) had the highest number of publications respectively. Of the three domains of timeliness, the most studied domain was 'delayed vaccination' [99.5% (223/224)], followed by 'early vaccination' [21.9% (49/224)], and 'untimely interval vaccination' [9% (20/224)]. Definitions for early (seven different definitions), untimely interval (four different definitions), and delayed vaccination (19 different definitions) varied across the studies. Most studies [72.3% (166/224)] operationalised vaccination timeliness as a categorical variable, compared to only 9.8% (22/224) of studies that operationalised timeliness as continuous variables. A large proportion of studies [47.8% (107/224)] excluded the data of children with no written vaccination records irrespective of caregivers' recall of their vaccination status. Our findings show that studies on vaccination timeliness in LMICs has measurement and methodological gaps. We recommend the development and implement of guidelines for measuring and reporting vaccination timeliness to bridge these gaps.

A systematic review of home-based records in maternal and child health for improving informational continuity, health outcomes, and perceived usefulness in low and middle-income countries

BACKGROUND

Evidence shows that a gap in the documentation of patients' past medical history leads to errors in, or duplication of, treatment and is a threat to patient safety. Home-based or patient-held records (HBR) are widely used in low and middle-income countries (LMIC) in maternal and childcare. The aim is to systematically review the evidence on HBRs in LMICs for (1) improving informational continuity for providers and women/families across health care visits and facilities, (2) to describe the perceived usefulness by women/families and healthcare providers, and (3) maternal and child health outcomes of using HBRs for maternal and child health care.

METHODS

The protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019139365). We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and Global Index Medicus databases for studies with home-based records from LMICs. Search terms pertained to women or parent-held records and LMICs. Two reviewers assessed studies for inclusion using a priori study selection criteria- studies explaining the use of HBRs in LMIC for maternal and child health care. The included study quality was appraised using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Results from all study designs were summarised narratively.

RESULTS

In total, 41 papers were included in the review from 4514 potential studies. Included studies represented various study designs and 16 countries. The least evaluated function of HBR was information continuity across health care facilities (n = 6). Overall, there were limited data on the usefulness of HBRs to providers and mothers/families. Home-based records were mostly available for providers during health care visits. However, the documentation in HBRs varied. The use of HBRs is likely to lead to improved antenatal visits and immunisation uptake, and skilled birth delivery in some settings. Mothers' knowledge of breastfeeding practices and danger signs in pregnancy improved with the use of HBRs. One randomised trial found the use of HBRs reduced the risk of cognitive development delay in children and another reported on trial lessened the risk of underweight and stunted growth in children.

CONCLUSION

There is limited literature from LMICs on the usefulness of HBRs and for improving information transfer across healthcare facilities, or their use by women at home. Current HBRs from LMICs are sub-optimally documented leading to poor informational availability that defeats the point of them as a source of information for future providers.