Youth Group Engagement in Noncompliant Communities During Supplemental Immunization Activities in Kaduna, Nigeria, in 2014

Introduction. One of the major challenges being faced in the Global Polio Eradication Initiative program is persistent refusal of oral polio vaccine (OPV) and harassment of vaccination team members by youths. The objective of the study was to describe the strategy of collaborating with recognized youth groups to reduce team harassment during vaccination campaigns and improve vaccination coverage in noncompliant communities. Methods. We assessed data from polio vaccination activities in OPV-refusing communities in the Igabi and Zaria local government areas (LGAs) of Kaduna State in Nigeria. We evaluated the following factors to determine trends: enhanced independent monitoring data on the proportion of children missed by vaccination activities (hereafter, “missed children”), lot quality assurance surveys, and vaccination team harassment. Results. The proportion of missed children decreased in both LGAs after the intervention. In Igabi LGA and Zaria LGA, the lowest proportions of missed children before and after the intervention decreased from 7% to 2% and from 5% to 1%, respectively. Lot quality assurance survey trends showed an improvement in immunization coverage 1 year after youth groups' engagement in both LGAs. Conclusions. Systematic engagement of youth groups has a great future in polio interruption as we approach the endgame strategy for polio eradication. It promises to be a veritable innovation in reaching chronically missed children in OPV-refusing communities.

• Publication year

  2016

• Venue

  Journal of Infectious Diseases

• Publication date

  2016-04-02

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Sociology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1093/infdis/jiv510PMID 26609003PMCID 4818550
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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