Nigeria Archives - eHealth Africa

5 Reasons Digital Innovations are Crucial for the Final Push to end Polio in Nigeria

Posted on October 22, 2024October 24, 2024 by Moshood Isah

It is August 2023, in a remote Nigerian village in Northern Nigeria. Children 5 years and below are on a queue waiting to be vaccinated against polio. At Least, 2,509,687 children have already benefited from the 18-day mass vaccination campaign to boost their immunity against Circulating Variant Poliovirus (cVPV2). (World Health Organization [WHO], 2023).

This raises an important question. If Nigeria was declared polio free in 2020, why do we still require polio vaccinations campaigns today? After years of collaborative efforts, significant progress was made in eliminating polio. However, the threat of circulating variant poliovirus (cVPV2) lingers, particularly in remote areas of Northern Nigeria. Efforts are being made to ensure that we see the end of this disease.

As Nigeria continues the journey towards finally eradicating polio, digital innovation has become a vital tool in ensuring the success of the country’s vaccination efforts. One of such innovative solutions is the integration of GIS tracking systems on eHealth Africa’s polio interventions. This revolutionary innovation has transformed how vaccination campaigns are planned, tracked, and executed.

A Ward focal person ties a box containing the vaccines he has received for the day as he get ready to begin his day’s work Bodinga LGA, Sokoto 13 December, 2023

A Ward focal person picking up tracking devices from the project field officer as they begin their day’s work Bodinga LGA, Sokoto 13 December, 2023

A child receives a FIPV vaccine in Kofan Kade, Mallam Dani’ma Quranic school, Sokoto north LGA Sokoto State. December 10, 2023

Here are five key reasons why digital innovation is the game-changer in Nigeria’s final push to end polio.

1. Every community is reached with accuracy

The foremost challenge in eradicating polio in Nigeria has been reaching remote and conflict-ridden areas where vaccination coverage is inconsistent. With difficult terrains, and insecurity, It is often nearly impossible to ensure that no child is left behind. With eHealth Africa’s GIS technology, teams are able to track and locate settlements in hard-to-reach areas with geo-coordinates of over 70% of settlements that were previously unmapped. This level of precision has allowed vaccination teams to better plan and ensure that no community is overlooked, increasing vaccination coverage rates. In 2023, the geo-coverage rate of vaccination activities tracked rose to 89%, representing a 6% increase over the previous quarter. This data-driven approach has been instrumental in reaching more than 1.4 million children in tracked settlements across the country.

2. Vaccination Campaigns are Monitored Real-time

One useful aspect of digital technology is its ability to provide real-time data and feedback. Vaccination campaigns can now be tracked in real time, allowing for immediate course corrections if any gaps are identified. The GIS technology has made it possible to track vaccination teams as they move from one settlement to another, providing health authorities with the data they need to ensure that every planned area is covered. With this technology during the vaccination campaign in April 2023 12,791 settlements across 56 LGAs in Katsina, Niger, Sokoto, and Zamfara, were reached, achieving an impressive 81% of the planned coverage. This real-time accountability has ensured that vaccine wastage is minimized, resources are optimally allocated, and the campaign’s impact is maximized.

3. Tailored Trainings for Vaccination Teams

Digital innovation not only improves logistical planning and monitoring but also equips health workers with the necessary tools and knowledge to enhance their effectiveness. With the GIS Intervention, eHealth Africa trained 107 individuals across five states—Katsina, Zamfara, Kebbi, Niger, and Sokoto—to effectively use digital tools and geospatial data to improve their vaccination outreach. These training efforts have empowered local teams and equipped health workers with the knowledge needed to adjust strategies on the go, to achieve more successful campaign outcomes.

4. Enhanced Micro Planning for Campaigns

Polio eradication requires meticulous planning, especially in regions where settlements are small, scattered, and often unmapped. Digital health tools have drastically improved micro planning by providing vaccination teams with up-to-date settlement data and templates to develop detailed vaccination plans. The Master List of Settlements (MLoS), regularly updated through digital tracking, serves as a comprehensive guide for teams in the field. This detailed approach has proven instrumental in increasing vaccination coverage in previously underserved areas, as seen in the 89% overall coverage rate achieved during the 2023 campaign, which targeted 4,861 settlements.

5. An Expandable Model for other Public Health Campaigns

The success of eHealth Africa’s GIS technology in Nigeria is proof that digital innovations can effectively address a wide range of other public health challenges. The systems, data infrastructure, and training models developed for polio eradication are not only efficient but also highly adaptable and can be applied to combat other diseases and public health emergencies.

The successful deployment of GIS technology by eHealth Africa in Nigeria is evidence that digital innovations can help in the solution of many other public health problems. The systems, data infrastructure, and training models developed for the polio eradication program are not only effective but also flexible enough to be used for other diseases and public health threats.

Through continued investment in these technologies, Nigeria is not only positioned to become polio-free but also to build a more robust and resilient healthcare system that will benefit generations to come.

eHealth Africa, Sokoto Govt Collaborate to Deliver Vaccine to Remote, Vulnerable Locations

Posted on August 31, 2023August 23, 2024 by Moshood Isah

by Moshood Isah

Easy access to the land borders in north-east and north-west zones, particularly Borno, Yobe, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina states has remained a key source of criminality and violent crimes in these parts of the country. As at 2022, 137 out of about 261 borders in the north-east and north-west regions of the country were unguarded as revealed by former chief of Army Staff, Lucky Irabor.

Sokoto State which shares borders with the Niger Republic has battled varying degrees of insecurity relating to kidnapping, cattle rustling and banditry in recent years. Areas primarily affected include Isa, Sabon Birni, Gwadabawa, Illela, Tangaza, and Goronyo. They contribute to a total of 65 out of the 240 wards in the state. Beyond security challenges, hard to reach areas, unavailability of vaccines, unfavorable weather conditions and vaccine hesitancy due to religious beliefs largely contributed to low immunization coverage rates in Nigeria and most inequitable in the world according to United States Agency for International Development (USAID). As of 2018, vaccination rates in Sokoto state were among the lowest in Nigeria, with only 3% of children receiving pentavalent vaccine by their first birthday as revealed by National Bureau of Statistics and United Nations International Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

In 2016, eHealth Africa was engaged by the State Ministry of Health with support from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and Dangote group on the Vaccine Direct Delivery project to commence the delivery of vaccine and dry goods for immunization against vaccine preventable diseases in Kano, Bauchi, Zamfara and Sokoto State. The intervention most recently done in Collaboration with Sokoto State Primary HealthCare Development Agency (SSPHCDA) devised strategic ways to deliver Antigens and dry goods to cold chain-equipped health facilities at ward-level and LGA cold stores at appropriate temperatures (between +2 to +8 Degree Centigrade).

Using the Logistics Management Information System (LoMIS) ;a suite of offline-capable mobile and web applications developed by eHealth Africa, they address challenges with the supply/distribution of health commodities to last-mile health facilities. The LoMIS Suite applications have been instrumental in providing critical solutions that ensure availability of health commodities, effective vaccine management. It also enables broader health system policy decisions through the use of real data for insight and decision-making and execution at the community, LGA and state l level.

Stakeholders in Sokoto state agree that the Vaccine Direct Delivery interventions have contributed to reducing the challenge of zero stock for vaccines as a result of effective automated documentation of vaccines and its consumables while also limiting the use of papers to promote sustainability in both environment and the health sector. In the words of Murtala Bello, the Director, Pharmaceutical Services, and Logistics Officer, Primary Health Care Development Agency, Sokoto State, “the use of digital solutions has improved delivery, it has also improved availability of these vaccines.” This according to him has improved accessibility and increased immunization coverage in the State.

According to eHA project Manager, Mohammed Faosy, in the last 6 months (Jan-June), over 2 million vaccines have been delivered to average of 351 cold-chain equipped health facilities monthly, leading to the immunization of over 800,000 children against Vaccine preventable diseases in Sokoto State. This is an 18% increase in the number of children reported vaccinated in the state in the first half of 2022. He reiterated that, despite implementing the VDD project in a security-compromised location such as Sokoto state, the project’s performance in terms of delivery rate has been outstanding.

Reaffirming this, a Health Delivery Officer, Umar Muhammed remarked that due to insecurity, vaccines could not be delivered directly to about 5 health facilities in Sokoto state; Kiyara PHC, Damba PHC, Bauni PHC, Raka PHC, and Dangulbi PHC. He however revealed that the delivery team found a creative way to ensure these vaccines get to these high risk areas by liaising and collaborating with the Health facility in charge within those communities to get vaccines to their health facilities through close communications and stipend-based reward to ensure they have vaccines at their health facilities. He said, “we don’t just provide a stipend, we monitor and follow up until vaccines arrive at the facilities safely, deliveries were always 100% successful to the affected facilities”.

Also, bad road conditions escalated by the rainy season also made delivery of vaccines to Fadarawa Health Post, and Rugga Kijjo Health Post to be carried out using motorcycles from the LGA cold store. The Health Delivery Officer in the location Salihu Muhammed Hali said, the team monitors the process until vaccines arrive at the facilities safely within the required temperature, deliveries were always 100% successful to the affected facilities.

The team commended the effort of the Sokoto Ministry of Health and the Sokoto State Primary Healthcare Development Agency’s (SSPHCDA) commitment to reducing zero-dose children and ensuring that quality vaccines are available at ward-level cold-chain equipped health facilities in the 23 LGAs in Sokoto state.

Tackling Nigeria’s Zero Dose Challenge: The Final Push with Geospatial Tracking

Posted on June 7, 2023August 25, 2024 by Moshood Isah

By Nnenna Ohiaeri

Introduction

In 2020, Nigeria was declared wild polio-free after meeting the requirements to attain the status, which includes 3 years without any new cases of wild poliovirus in the country1. Prior to achieving this milestone, Nigeria was one of only three countries in the wild with endemic wild polio. GIS (Geographic Information System) tracking was first implemented in Nigeria’s Polio program in 2012 with eHA’s Vaccination Tracking project (VTS). VTS was decommissioned in 2020, just after Nigeria was declared Polio free.

Our Intervention

Since 2022, eHA has been providing GIS tracking support to the polio outbreak campaigns in security-compromised locations with the Polio Special Intervention project, which is part of a key focus area of eHA – Public Health Emergency Response Systems. The purpose of this project is to support the efforts to improve the Polio outbreak response in Nigeria, with a focus on circulating variant poliovirus type 2, cVPV2, using the new Geospatial Tracking System (GTS) application to track vaccination teams.

“Special Intervention”, in this context, refers to the security-compromised nature of the implementing states. Due to banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism, several settlements in these states are either inaccessible or partially accessible. Vaccine-eligible children residing in these areas are denied access to their necessary vaccinations such as the Polio vaccine due to the insecurity posed by these activities. Accessing these communities means reaching the missed children and protecting the communities from disease outbreaks and securing a truly polio-free Nigeria. The project is being implemented in 57 local government areas (LGAs) with security-compromised settlements, in 7 priority states- Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara.

Geospatial Tracking System (GTS) was introduced by Novel-T after the decommissioning of the VTS application. The GTS application is a “lightweight” version of the VTS and was first piloted in Borno State in 2020 and is currently being used on this Polio Special Intervention project.

The GTS application is used to monitor vaccination teams and report daily missed settlements based on the DIPs (daily implementation plans) of a campaign. The process flow is displayed below:

Results

Since the inception of the project, the eHA-led activity has had a significant impact on the polio campaign implementation. Between September 2022 to May 2023, eHA has supported 66 LGAs with GIS tracking across the 7 implementing states. 3,953 settlements with vaccine-eligible children have been verified to have been visited by the vaccination teams during 2 rounds of polio campaign implementation in the states, using GTS trackers, and 1,664 vaccination teams were tracked during the campaigns.

Field technical teams were deployed to each implementing LGA to support the campaign. 66 LGA consultants were trained on the administration and operation of the GTS application. The consultants built the capacity of the LGA team on GIS tracking with trainings on GTS and the handling of the trackers. This was necessary to make sure that the vaccination teams are fully equipped and knowledgeable enough to successfully implement GIS tracking during the campaigns. Data collection activities were also conducted during the campaigns to obtain the geo-coordinates of settlements that are not on the Polio geodatabase (GDB). 69 data collectors were trained on the use of the KoboCollect application to collect geo-coordinate data in the field. This data collection ensured that the visitation of the planned settlements by the vaccination teams could be verified.

Conclusion

GIS tracking has helped increase vaccination coverage throughout the 7 priority states where it was implemented. In addition to increased coverage, GIS tracking also provided data-driven insights for decision-making. It increases the quality of campaign implementation and improves accountability, by validating the tally sheet reports generated by the vaccination teams. GIS tracking can be utilized beyond polio programming to support other vaccination initiatives by improving vaccination coverage and in turn, boosting Nigeria’s immunization indices.

Introduction

Our Intervention

Results

Conclusion

Online Donation