Assessment of immunization data quality of routine reports in Ho municipality of Volta region, Ghana

Sorengmen Amos Ziema,Livingstone Asem

doi:10.1186/s12913-020-05865-4

Abstract

BackgroundImmunization has been an important public health intervention for preventing and reducing child morbidity and mortality over the years and coverage has increased in the past decades. However, the validity of the data from immunization coverages is usually disputed. Immunization data from health facilities show poor concordance between tallied registers and monthly reports as they are reported to higher levels of the health system. The study assessed the quality of data from routine immunization of some health facilities in the Ho central municipality in the Volta region of Ghana.MethodsA descriptive cross-sectional study was used to review routine immunization data in tallied registers and reports submitted to the Municipal Health Directorate (MHD) from January to December, 2015. Simple random sampling was used to select three health facilities in Ho central municipality. The World Health Organization (WHO) Data Quality Self-assessment (DQS) tool was the main instrument used to present and analyze data for accuracy and discrepancy level between the tallied registers and reports. A template was created in Microsoft excel which automatically presented accuracy and discrepancy levels when data was entered. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from Ghana Health Service Ethics Review Committee.ResultsThe result showed discrepancies between recounted tallies at the facilities and reports submitted to the MHD. Accuracy ratios of 102, 64 and 94% for Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG), Pentavalent (Penta) vaccine dose 3 and Measles 2 respectively indicating underreporting for BCG and over reporting for the rest were obtained. There was 460 over reported data to the municipal level representing accuracy ratio of 80% and discrepancy level of 20%.ConclusionsImmunization data was characterized by underreporting and overreporting, hence not accurate and lacked quality. Immunization data quality should be a priority among health staff at health facilities.

Highlights

Immunization has been an important public health intervention for preventing and reducing child morbidity and mortality over the years and coverage has increased in the past decades
Active artificial immunization is provided in most countries through routine immunization or Expanded Program on immunization (EPI) and as part of primary health care approach [5]
Study setting The study was conducted from February to March, 2017 in Ho central within the Municipality of the Volta Region of Ghana

Summary

Introduction

Immunization has been an important public health intervention for preventing and reducing child morbidity and mortality over the years and coverage has increased in the past decades. The study assessed the quality of data from routine immunization of some health facilities in the Ho central municipality in the Volta region of Ghana. Acquired immunity is attained through either passive or active immunization. Passive immunization refers to the transfer of active humoral immunity in the form. Active artificial immunization is provided in most countries through routine immunization or Expanded Program on immunization (EPI) and as part of primary health care approach [5]. The global effort to use vaccination as a public health intervention began in 1974 when WHO launched the EPI [6, 7]. Most countries since have made significant efforts in immunization activities ensuring that children are protected from vaccine preventable diseases

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