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  • Title: Poor immunization coverage--a problem of supply or demand?
    Author: Pointer AE.
    Journal: Int Health News; 1988 Apr; 9(4):4-5. PubMed ID: 12179882.
    Abstract:
    In the effort to realize Universal Child Immunization by 1990, an active search is underway to find ways to raise immunization coverage levels. The World Health Organization's (WHO) Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) has developed excellent systems that develop such program components as supply management, equipment maintenance, disease surveillance, clinical practice, and supervision. Program performance has shown a steady improvement over the years in those countries which have adopted such systems, yet the trend has not been as marked as expected. Coverage levels in many countries have remained below 60%, and figures show a "dropout" with the multi-dose vaccines. The dropout figures suggest that parental acceptance of immunization is difficult to sustain throughout the entire series, which is spread over the first 9 months of life. To reduce dropout and boost coverage levels still further, recent program directions have emphasized social mobilization to increase the public response to immunization. It is tempting to conclude that with the implementation of improved management systems the final success will come from persuading parents to avail themselves of immunization services, but field reports suggest that this may not be the case. Health records show missed immunizations despite numerous visits to clinics, suggesting widespread problems in the implementation of the WHO systems. A combination of causes seem to ensure that children attending with their mothers do not get immunized, including errors and omissions on the part of field staff which reduce the chances for immunizations by families making return visits to the clinics. Few programs incorporate immunizations in daily practice. In a series of immunization coverage surveys conducted recently in 1 African country, the most striking fact was that the limitations of the data collected meant that the calculated contribution of clinical error could only be a gross underestimation of true clinical error contribution. This suggests that social mobilization to improve clinical attendance is likely to be ineffective until problems with the provision of services have been solved, but improving services has the potential to increase coverage levels as well as the potential to motivate parents to bring their children to the clinics.
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