Sustaining the Push: Essentials for Attaining a Polio-free Nigeria

By Mustapha Hadi Mustapha and Emerald Awa-Agwu

Children at a school in Kogi State receive the Oral Polio Vaccine during an Immunization Plus Days (IPD) activity

Today, June 19, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Nigeria, polio-free.

The first requirement for attaining the polio-free certification—no wild poliovirus transmission for three consecutive years—was attained on August 21, 2019  1.

The Africa Regional Certification Committee’s visit to Borno State in March 2020 as part of the process for certifying Nigeria polio-free

This success is the result of several sustained efforts, including domestic and international financing, the commitment of thousands of health workers and the switch to electronic, technology-driven data collection and management systems which have given decision-makers and polio eradication partners the accurate data needed to develop plans and strategies for reaching every eligible child, even in hard-to-reach and security-challenged areas 2.

“Having achieved the milestones of primary requirements, the ARCC will first review the complete documentation report of the interruption of wild poliovirus type 1 and then proceed to conduct field verification visits to select states in the south of Nigeria. If the ARCC is satisfied with the national documentation and field verification after both visits in December 2019 and March 2020, the WHO African Region could be certified to have eradicated polio by mid-2020.”

— Dr. Fiona Braka, WHO Nigeria Team Lead, Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI)

eHealth Africa supported these efforts by providing Geographic Information Systems-based solutions and services including the Vaccination Tracking System (VTS). Here is how states benefited :

• eHA supported states to develop a comprehensive, up-to-date list of settlements. 

In 2014 and 2015, eHA mapped the eleven northern states under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). The data proved so useful to decision-makers that eHA received funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) teamed up with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), Flowminder, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) to map the rest of Nigeria during the Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development (GRID3) project which lasted from 2017 to 2019. We also frequently execute data collection and campaign activities across the country during which we gather spatial and non-spatial data relating to several points of interest including settlements and health facilities. These data are housed in what we call the eHA Geodatabase (GDB). 

Using the datasets in the GDB, we have helped states in Nigeria to identify previously unknown settlements and update their master list of settlements. eHA developed and provided the states updated LGA and ward level maps. The maps include the geocoordinates, names, and delineated boundaries of known and newly identified settlements. These updated master list of settlements and the new maps allow health planners to develop accurate, comprehensive micro plans for Routine and Supplementary Immunization Activities and reach eligible children in the remotest communities.

The Vaccinator Tracking System dashboard

• eHA built the capacity of health teams at the state and local government levels to visualize and analyze vaccination coverage data for decision making during campaigns.

Through the VTS dashboard decision-makers, partners, and other stakeholders can access near real-time information about ongoing and concluded immunization campaigns such as the immunization coverage and missed settlements. eHA trained health teams at the state and LGA levels to easily access, visualize and analyze the data on the dashboard, and use it to promptly identify and address challenges that may affect the immunization coverage levels in the state. 

The milestones recorded by Nigeria’s Polio Eradication program prove without a doubt, the positive outcomes that are possible when decision-makers use quality data as the basis for planning and implementing projects. eHealth Africa is proud to be a part of Nigeria’s Polio success story. We thank and congratulate our partner organizations and governments at the national and sub-national levels, who were all instrumental in this achievement.

Going forward, we know that a strong immunization program is essential to sustain this success so, we continue to support immunization programs at the state and national levels through projects such as Vaccine Direct Delivery, LoMIS Stock, and Kano Connect.

Pushing the Boundaries of Routine Immunization coverage

By John Momoh & Emerald Awa-Agwu

In 2017, following the results of the 2016-2017 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey/ National Immunization Coverage Survey (MICS/NICS) Report, which put Nigeria’s routine immunization (RI) coverage rate at 33%,  the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) declared a state of emergency on RI in Nigeria 1. This led to the establishment of the National Emergency Routine Immunization Coordination Centre (NERRIC) and its state-level counterparts, across the 36 states of the federation. NERICC and SERICC targeted states and local government areas that had low immunization coverage rates with various interventions, aimed at attaining a RI coverage rate of 84% by 2028. The majority of states in this category are in Northern Nigeria 2. 

Many reasons exist for low vaccination coverage rate including non-compliance by households, insufficient vaccines, health workers, and/or health facilities to meet the demand for immunization services. However, what happens when you have all these factors combined with insecurity, displacement of people, and physical destruction of health facilities?

eHA consultant in Magumeri LGA training the LGA RIE team on the use of electronic data collection methods

It’s an Emergency
The insurgency in Northeast Nigeria has been ongoing since 2009 and the current reality is that health workers and households face grave challenges delivering and accessing RI services. There are issues of security to consider as well as the migration/abandonment of settlements which hinder proper planning and execution of routine and supplementary immunization activities (SIAs). This has led to consistently underserved populations and thus, low immunization coverage rates.

eHA consultant in Biu LGA supporting the LGA RI Officer to micro-plan using GIS Maps

The Strategy
To alleviate this, the Borno State Emergency Routine Immunization Coordination Centre, in close collaboration with partners including the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), eHealth Africa (eHA), Solina Health, and Novel-T launched the Routine Immunization Expansion (RIE) strategy to expand RI activities to security-challenged areas in order to improve the coverage rates. This strategy uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) solutions as the basis to identify and target settlements for RI sessions and provide proof of visitation, thereby, improving routine immunization coverage.

eHealth Africa's Role
We have leveraged our expertise in data management solutions and Geographic Information Systems (GIS), to provide end-to-end support for the implementation of the RIE strategy in Borno. We provide the RI teams with up-to-date GIS maps and a list of settlements that they use during their microplanning activity to estimate target populations and allocate catchment areas to health facilities across the state. Using these tools and local knowledge, the teams prioritize and plan what areas to reach using criteria like accessibility, habitation status, and the proximity to adjoining settlements. Furthermore, this allows each LGA to estimate the optimal number of teams and days required to cover all their targeted settlements for each round of RIE implementation. This process is critical to the program because it has a direct impact on logistics and finance planning. During RIE field implementation activities, we monitor RI teams’ coverage in security-compromised areas using GPS-enabled Android phones, similar to what occurs in the Vaccinator Tracking System project.

At the end of each round, we develop a post-implementation report and updated map which are shared with the relevant stakeholders for informed decision-making and progress monitoring.

The Progress So Far

As a result of using GIS technology, routine immunization coverage in security-challenged areas in Borno has increased from 12% in April 2019 to 88% in December 2019.

These results show the significant impact that innovative data solutions and GIS technology, combined with contextual insight and partnership can have on health interventions in low-resource settings.

Tracking Unknown Settlements in Anambra State, Nigeria

Since 2012, eHealth Africa has been part of national and global polio eradication efforts. For the most part, our interventions and support have been deployed in Northern Nigeria. However, when two cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) were reported in Anambra state early this year, our field operations team was deployed to conduct Vaccination tracking and hamlet buster activities for the first time in eastern Nigeria.

The exercise was conducted in nine high-risk Local Government Areas of Anambra State and the data obtained from the exercise, including habitation status, geocoordinates, and settlement names, were used to develop comprehensive microplans for an upcoming Outbreak Response (OBR) activity in the state. 

We appreciate the members of our Field Operations team who work long hours, travel to distant locations and brave difficult terrain to help us reach every last child with lifesaving vaccination services.

Click the slide show to see how the trip went.

You never know what will happen on the field, so we take everything we need

Field Officers getting ready for deployment

Sometimes the road is dusty

Sometimes, there is insane traffic

But we always move together

The terrain is never easy, so, no mode of transportation is off limits

Even canoes

It’s grueling work- The PFOs need to train LGA ward focal persons and supervisors before the commencement of the campaign

But there’s always time for a selfie

Using Geospatial Technology to Improve Vaccination Coverage Rates: A Case Study of Ganjuwa LGA, Bauchi State

By Fatima Mohammed

In May 2012, Nigeria and 193 other member states of the World Health Assembly endorsed the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), a strategy to launch the “Decade of Vaccines” during which millions of deaths would be prevented through more equitable access to vaccines, by 2020. Two important targets of this plan were that all 194 countries should attain a national coverage of 90% and 80% in every district or equivalent administrative unit, for all vaccines.

Since the launch of the plan, the National Program on Immunization (NPI) led by the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), has made great efforts to increase the immunization coverage rate in Nigeria. Immunization is a top priority for decision-makers and they have collaborated with partner organizations to develop strategies to strengthen the delivery and demand for Routine Immunization (RI) and Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIAs). As a result, more children have been vaccinated than ever before1. However, Nigeria is still ranked as one of the countries with the lowest immunization coverage rates globally2. Several factors such as the insurgency in the Northeast, and cultural perceptions and beliefs leading to non-compliance and drop-out rates, have contributed to this but a major challenge has been the lack of an accurate denominator.

A child getting vaccinated during a vaccination campaign in Kogi State

What is a denominator?

A denominator usually refers to the total estimated number of eligible individuals in a population or the total estimated number of people in a target population3, 4. When delivering immunization services, health personnel develop micro plans to ensure that immunization services reach every community5. Micro-plans are used to identify priority communities, determine denominators/ eligible individuals, identify barriers and develop work plans for deploying solutions to those barriers6. Denominators are essential during the microplanning process to make sure that eligible people are not left out.  If health workers and administrators are unaware of a community’s existence, that community may be left out of micro-plans, denying eligible children the vaccines that they need. This will, in turn, reduce herd immunity in the state and eventually in the country, even though high immunization coverage rates are recorded.

An ongoing microplanning activity

For the past decade, eHealth Africa has worked with partners to support the National Program on Immunization and increasing the capacity of health systems to deliver quality health services, especially in underserved communities. eHA designs and deploys data-driven solutions and interventions that leverage Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, to identify and map settlements within the remotest communities, so that health workers can develop accurate, comprehensive micro-plans, to better plan and monitor health interventions.

A Data Collector collecting settlement data in Bauchi State

Through the Vaccinator Tracking Systems (VTS) project, we track the movement of vaccinators during SIAs to identify missed settlements and ensure that these settlements and their target population are reached, achieving a wider immunization coverage. Having mapped all the 36 states of Nigeria through the Geo-Referenced Infrastructure and Demographic Data for Development (GRID3) project, we provide up to date maps to states based on an accurate database of settlements and communities in  Nigeria, enabling our partner states to plan more efficiently. 

Case Study: Ganjuwa Local Government Area in Bauchi State

The Bauchi state master list of settlements contains 1,134 settlements for Ganjuwa Local Government Area (LGA). The planning for all interventions and projects in the state is based on this number. However, the eHealth Africa geodatabase has a list of 2,817 settlements for the same LGA, implying that almost 60% of the settlements in the LGA are left out during the microplanning process and consequently, during polio campaigns. Whenever eHA conducted the vaccinator tracking exercise based on the list on our geodatabase, the LGA perpetually fell below the target coverage rates.

To address this, eHA planned and conducted a “Hamlet Buster” activity to identify and rename the missed settlements in Ganjuwa LGA, in December 2019. The LGA had 2,051 machine-named settlements according to our geodatabase, the highest ever recorded in Nigeria.  Machine-named settlements occur when geospatial data collection tools pick up on features that are indicative of hamlet areas or small settlement areas. During a hamlet buster activity, field data collectors trace and visit these settlements using their geocoordinates, determine their name and accurate boundaries, and update them on the geodatabase. 

At the end of the hamlet buster activity in Ganjuwa, 1984 0f 2051 machine-named settlements were visited and renamed. This data will help to achieve the following in Bauchi State:

• Improve healthcare provision planning and Monitoring by updating the existing micro plans

• Harmonize the LGA/State master list of settlements with eHA’s geodatabase list

• Create more accurate health facility catchment area maps and targets for Routine Immunization and other interventions

“This work will help the state to achieve great milestones in health delivery because the data will not only be used for immunization but for other programs. It will make our planning for future activities easier and more realistic. The state is very grateful to eHealth Africa for this because we now have an authentic microplan. eHealth Africa also helped us to transit from paper-based to digital micro plans.”

— Bakoji Ahmed State Immunization Officer, Bauchi State.

Improving Coverage Rates, One Track at a Time

By Emerald Awa- Agwu and Friday Daniel

The real story of Nigeria’s immunization coverage rates is told at the ward level. For over five years, eHealth Africa through the Vaccination Tracking System program has been supporting the increase in immunization and geographical coverage rates of 4017 wards across 19 states.

eHA, through the Vaccination Tracking System program (VTS), acts as the eyes of the immunization coordination teams at national, state and local government levels. They are able to gain a deeper understanding and insight into what exactly takes place at the wards, communities and settlements during the house to house immunization campaigns.

Debriefing at a state- level review meeting in Sokoto State

The VTS program uses software- encoded phones that track, record and store the coordinates of their locations- and all the vaccinators have to do is take the phone with them on their vaccination exercises. eHA also deploys project field officers to each local government area, to handle any technical difficulties and to ensure that the data from the phones are uploaded to a dashboard.  At the review meetings that take place daily, eHA paints a picture of how much progress has been made- breaking it down to local government, ward and if necessary settlement levels.

Why is this Important?

Nigeria has always struggled to improve Routine Immunization (RI) coverage rates. The major challenge was the discrepancy between the high number of missed children discovered during monitoring visits and the high numbers of vaccinated children reported by field vaccination teams. Stories and reports of vaccinators pouring away vacci nesor refusing to visit settlements were common but holding them accountable was difficult.

In line with eHA’s virtuous cycle strategic model, the Vaccination Tracking System program arms the federal and state governments, ministries of health and partner organizations with reliable data and insight, that they can quickly use to make informed, evidence-based decisions. VTS  is a game changer because it helps the immunization coordination teams- World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Health and partner organizations- discover exactly what settlements the  vaccinators have visited or not; as well as what locations they had visited within each settlement. VTS also gives the relevant partners a visual representation of which wards or settlements were underserved thereby, enhancing the ability of the national and state RI task teams to target such communities.

VTS motivates the ward focal persons (WFP) and LGA teams and removes the risk of complacency especially in wards with high coverage rates. Results of each campaign day’s activities are delivered by proportion of settlement type covered and overall percentage coverage for each ward. In other words, WFPs are told the percentage coverage of their wards that have been covered and locations where they need to pay more attention to. This inspires them to work harder and more efficiently.

VTS project coordinator, Friday Daniel at a ward- level review meeting in Sokoto state

VTS has improved the capacity of WFPs to investigate low coverage rates, get answers and where necessary, conduct trainings for the vaccinators. Through VTS, a WFP in Barawaga Ward of Bodinga LGA of Sokoto State discovered that his ward was recording low coverage rates, not because his vaccinators weren’t going to the communities but because they weren’t spending the required minimum time at each house. Empowered with this knowledge, he was able to train his vaccinators to observe best practices during the campaign. Where vaccinators consistently under- vaccinate, even after being trained, adequate actions can be taken.

The Vaccinator Tracking System is helping Nigeria, starting with the northern states to improve our coverage rates, one track at a time.

eHealth Africa helping #VaccinesWork with Vaccination Tracking Systems

By Uche Ajene and Abdul Yakubu

As we mark World Immunization Week and African Vaccination Week, the eHealth Africa (eHA) team is very proud to be part of the global team working to end polio in Nigeria.

One of the interventions we participate in is the Immunization Plus Days (IPDs). We use geospatial technology and data to support the governments and our partners for immunization activities to contribute to the eradication polio in Nigeria with the vaccination tracking systems (VTS) technology and program.

VTS works by tracking geo-coordinates visited by vaccinators giving the oral polio vaccine during IPDs campaigns, to monitor their activities. These geo-coordinates are compared against already mapped settlements to ensure 100% coverage during immunization campaigns. Our team provides support by providing the application and technical support to local government area teams during these periodic IPDs campaigns. We are working to increase the number of children under 5, vaccinated against polio to interrupt the of transmission of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) in Nigeria.

Recently our teams participated in IPD campaigns in a number of states Nigeria, including Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states. Click through our slide show below as Abdul, one of our project field officers, shares his journey of the recently concluded IPDs campaign in Adamawa state.

Setting out

Final check in before leaving eHA Kano campus

Arrival in Mubi!

eHA team with our partners from the World Health Organization (WHO), Adamawa State and LGA health workers.

Everything we need

Offloading the equipment we need for the next few days

Powered Up

These power charging stations are essential to our success. We ensure that each vaccinator has a fully charged device every day to capture all the data from the field.

Briefing session

Frequent meetings with our partners to agree on daily plans, set goals and work out any issues that may arise

Analysis

We have one on one meetings with out state partners. Here I meet with the state technical facilitator to discuss the coverage percentage of the day and plan for the next dau

Heading back

After another successful IPD campaign, we’re now ready to head to Yola then back to Kano.

eHA Supports Polio Outbreak Response Campaign

In response to the two wild poliovirus cases detected in Borno State in August 2016, the first outbreak response campaign is set to run from August 27-30 in five Northern states.

eHealth Africa will be providing support for the campaign by supplying over 8000 GPS-enabled mobile devices to field vaccination teams to enable the collection of geo-coordinate information on settlements reached during their house-to-house visits. To provide technical field support, eHA has deployed over 70 field staff to 37 Local Government Areas (LGAs) across the five Northern states.

Data collected by the vaccination teams will be uploaded onto a local server to enable key health administrators and partners, at the LGA and state level, to visualize the data collected from the daily field activities on the Vaccination Tracking System (VTS) dashboard. From the results, polio program stakeholders will be able to see the percentage of geo-coverage achieved and most importantly, the number of missed settlements that will require follow-up visits. This information will help stakeholders make timely and better-informed decisions to ensure all eligible children in the regions are immunized with the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV).  

March 2016 IPD Campaign

Since 2012, eHA has worked with the Nigerian Government, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, and other partners to stop the transmission of the poliovirus and completely eradicate the disease from Nigeria. So far this year, Nigeria has seen zero new cases of paralytic polio,  with the last case declared in Nigeria on 24 July 2014. This is significant for Nigeria, which was one of only three countries in 2015 still considered endemic. In Africa as a whole, the entire continent is now non-endemic for poliovirus.

eHA continues to implement polio projects in Nigeria through Polio Immunization Plus Days (IPDs) that focus on Vaccinator Tracking and an eTallySheet pilot. These ensure all children in Nigeria are polio free.

Vaccinator Tracking and the eTallySheet Project

In the Vaccinator Tracking program, eHA equips field vaccinator teams with GPS-enabled phones which are carried throughout the course of IPDs. The phones pick up and track the geographic coordinates of the settlement locations visited. Tracked coordinates are then uploaded by eHA staff into a custom Vaccination Tracking System (VTS) dashboard that state health administrators and partners can access during daily campaign review meetings. These meetings happen at local government and state levels with the purpose of monitoring field vaccinator team movements, discussing the  percentage of geo-coverage achieved that day, and ensuring settlements missed by vaccinator teams are targeted during the fifth and final day of the campaign (known as a “mop up” day).

The eTallySheet (eTS) project is funded by the World Health Organization and the Gates Foundation and provides a digital method of gathering immunization information during polio vaccination campaigns. Benefits include the timely digital submission of data and validation of population estimates (specifically for children under five) in areas known for poor enumeration data, high growth populations, and migratory populations. eHA also provides GPS-enabled phones with Open Data Kit collection forms to locally recruited eTS supervisors. These supervisors follow house-to-house vaccinator teams during IPD campaigns, and record important vaccination data per household visited.

March 2016 Immunization Plus Days

The March IPD campaign took place from March 19-22. While eHA staff usually support vaccinator tracking in the Northern Nigeria region, this campaign involved project field officers being deployed to 10 southern states(Cross River, Bayelsa, Edo, Ondo, Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Lagos, Ekiti and Delta). They carried out vaccinator tracking activities and eTS implementation across 60 wards in 26 Local Government Areas (LGAs). A total of 63 eHA field officers were deployed to train, supervise and monitor 279 locally-recruited eTS team supervisors.

The field teams encountered unique experiences and challenges during this IPD round due to their deployment to new states with unfamiliar terrains and infrastructure. Many ward destinations were a long distance from the campaign take-off points (up to five hours travel time), so some teams were unable to get back in time for day-of uploading of collected data. In some LGAs, teams were delayed while resolving issues with local governments, resulting in long days. Awareness of security challenges required practical strategies to keep the campaign moving forward efficiently.

The eHA team saw great enthusiasm and excitement from local health workers regarding vaccinator tracking. Locally-recruited eTS supervisors were fully engaged in the eTS application training and mastered it quickly. In Northern Nigeria, house-to-house vaccinations were the main focus, however in Southern Nigeria, vaccinations were administered at churches, markets, and mosques.

A Successful Campaign

In the end eHA field officers successfully conducted the vaccinator tracking and eTS implementation exercises for the March IPD campaign. We look forward to the next IPD campaign May and remain committed to supporting the Nigerian government to achieve it’s goal of receiving the World Health Organization’s polio-free certification by 2017.