Preventing childhood diseases through Vaccine Direct Delivery

By Adamu Lawan

The Challenge
In Northern Nigeria, vaccines are often unavailable at health facilities due to irregular deliveries. There are no systems in place to track inventory and movement of commodities between facilities and state cold stores. This has led to substantial stock outs of vaccines at last- mile health facilities and consequently, the inability of children under the age of one to access routine immunization services.

eHealth Africa’s solution
In 2013, eHealth Africa developed a logistics platform, LoMIS, to transport vaccines and dry goods from the state cold store to health facilities at the ward level that are equipped with cold chain storage facilities. The project was launched in Kano in 2014 and in Bauchi and Sokoto in 2015.
Following its success in the pilot LGAs of Bauchi State this year, the implementation of Vaccine Direct Delivery was scaled up to include an additional 148 health facilities in the northern clusters of Bauchi State.

The Impact

FIND Visits Kano State

By Emerald Awa-Agwu

During the month of August, eHealth Systems Africa in collaboration with THINKMD, FIND and Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board (KSPHCMB) implemented the second phase of the pilot study of the eHealth platform MEDSINC. In the first phase of the pilot, Community Health Workers (CHWs) in 15 health facilities across Kano state had been trained to use the platform and carry out physician like clinical assessments on ill children between the age of 2 months and 5 years of age. At the completion of their training the CHWs received a training certificate during a conferment ceremony. Taking from the success of the first phase, a new version of MEDSINC was developed and combined with malaria rapid diagnostic tests to guide CHWs through clinical assessment, malaria diagnosis and management. This phase of the pilot was implemented in 5 health facilities across five metropolitan Local Government Areas.

Last week, FIND representative, Dr. Karell Pellé, visited eHealth Systems Africa and met with the Executive Secretary of Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board (KSPHCMB), Dr. Nasir Mahmoud, to discuss ongoing plans for scaling up the use of mHealth tools to improve clinical diagnosis of childhood illnesses. She also visited some of the pilot health facilities in Kano State to interact with the CHWs and observe first-hand how quality of care and health delivery had been improved in those facilities.

Dr. Nasir Mahmoud (Executive Secretary, KSPHCMB) with Dr. Karell Pellé (FIND)

ES, KSPHCMB, Karell Pellé, Olayinka Orefunwa and Fatima Adamu (eHA MEDSINC team)

At Kantudu Health Clinic

Still at Kantudu Health Clinic

Meet the Team - Friday Daniel

Friday Daniel is Project Field Operations Coordinator in our Nigeria office.  He joined eHealth Africa over four years ago as a Field Officer on the Vaccinator Tracking System (VTS) project. He helped to improve vaccination coverage as well as to reach frequently missed settlements in states with high risk of Polio and low immunization coverage rates.  VTS provides immunization coordination teams at national, state and local government levels with a deeper understanding and insight into what exactly takes place at the wards, communities and settlements during the house to house immunization campaigns.
Less than a year after he joined eHA, he became a field operations coordinator and worked across five projects including Auto-Visual AFP Detection and Reporting (AVADAR), Lake Chad Mapping, Field Tracking System and the Polio Vaccination Monitoring and Accountability System. One of his greatest achievements is his pivotal role in identifying unknown settlements under the Vaccinator Tracking System project. He researched and introduced an existing tool to the Field Operations Team which helped to increase the tracking coverage from 68% to 89%.

Friday works closely with partners and stakeholders to ensure that project objectives are met and that governments are provided with useful data that can aid decision- making and planning in line with eHA’s strategy. He also manages and supervises the activities of the field operations personnel to ensure that project activities are implemented efficiently.

“I have gained so many new skills since joining eHealth Africa. I love working at eHA because it gives me the opportunity to solve problems and try new things. Being able to pilot several projects to completion and see able to its impact in the communities of operation, is an awesome experience!”

— Friday Daniel

Would you like to be a part of our team? Click here to find out more

World Humanitarian Day Spotlight: WFP Warehouses and Borno Interventions

By Emerald Awa- Agwu

World Humanitarian Day is held on August 19 every year to draw attention to the millions of civilians whose lives have been disrupted by armed conflict and to recognize those who work to bring them aid and relief. According to statistics from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 2 million people have been internally displaced by the insurgency in Northeast Nigeria. The insecurity in this region has increased the vulnerability  to diseases and hunger in many communities as they are unable to access food and health services. This World Humanitarian Day, we will be highlighting how eHealth Africa (eHA) programs support the humanitarian effort in Northeast Nigeria.

Teams using geo-spatial data to plan immunization activities

In 2016, after almost two years without a reported case of wild poliovirus in Nigeria, four cases were isolated in Borno state. In response to this, eHA partnered with the Federal Government of Nigeria and other organizations including  the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and Solina Health to extend the reach of polio immunization campaigns to hard-to-reach areas in Borno and Yobe states. Through the Reaching Every Settlement (RES) and  Reaching Inaccessible Children (RIC) projects, state immunization teams have reached 5,598 settlements in security challenged wards with the help of the geo-spatial data provided by eHA’s GIS & Data Analytics teams.

We also provide mobile based technology that enables relevant state governments’ teams  to track reached settlements by providing geo-evidence of visits by vaccination teams. Our teams continue to  gather geo spatial data on constantly changing landmarks and settlements, which helps the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA)  plan both routine immunization and polio specific vaccination campaigns targeted at hard-to-reach communities. This equips the government with accurate, real-time coverage data which helps with planning and decision making.

Food stored in eHA operated warehouse in Borno, Nigeria

eHA also partners with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Logistics Sector Nigeria to coordinate the storage and distribution of food aid to internally displaced people in the North East. In the first half of 2018, eHA has handled over 330,000 metric tons of food for about 1.2 million people affected by the conflict in the Northeast.

The Logistics Sector Nigeria offers warehousing to humanitarian organizations working in Northeast Nigeria in order to support their operations processes. eHA manages the Logistics Sector warehouse in Ngala, Borno State and has commenced the construction of an additional warehouse in Rann, Borno State.

To learn more about our humanitarian projects and our work in other parts of Nigeria and Africa, please read our 2017 Annual Impact Report

Meet the Team - Foday Sesay

Meet Foday Sesay, the Lead Driver in our Sierra Leone office. He joined the eHealth Africa (eHA) team over 3 years ago as a driver and now manages our in country fleet team, managing both the team of 13 drivers and the entire fleet of vehicles. 
The fleet team is an integral part of our program operations, by providing ground transportation support to all of our programs and projects. They ensure that people and resources reach their destinations safely and on time. Foday is responsible for managing all the moving pieces to make sure all of this happens smoothly. He ensures that every vehicle is in working condition and that the drivers are well equipped with the right tools and training.

“I started with eHA as a driver. Four months down the line, I was promoted to Lead Driver. I am proud about the fact that I help drivers adhere to organizational policies. Since I joined the eHA Fleet as a Lead Driver, fuel consumption has reduced.”

— Foday Sesay

Foday has focused on processes and procedures to be more successful in his role as lead driver. He plans regular training sessions for the fleet team and this has led to better driving records; there have been no traffic offenses nor have there been any major accidents with eHA vehicles since 2017.  Also, under Foday's leadership, the fleet team has also become more efficient with resource management, the best example of this is continuous decrease of the the fuel consumption rate since 2016.

Foday has made measurable and visible impact since he joined the eHA team and we are happy to have Foday with us, he keeps us moving!

Click here to learn more about joining the eHA team.