Abstract
BackgroundOver the past four decades, the World Health Organization established the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to foster universal access to all relevant vaccines for all children at risk. The success of this program has been undeniable, but requires periodic monitoring to ensure that coverage rates remain high. The aim of this study was to measure the BCG vaccination coverage in Manhiça district, a high TB burden rural area of Southern Mozambique and to investigate factors that may be associated with BCG vaccination.MethodsWe used data from the Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) run by the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM) in the district of Manhiça. A questionnaire was added in the annual HDSS round visits to retrospectively collect the vaccination history of children under the age of 3 years. Vaccinations are registered in the National Health Cards which are universally distributed at birth. This information was collected for children born from 2011 to 2014. Data on whether a child was vaccinated for BCG were collected from these National Health Cards and/or BCG scar assessment.ResultsA total of 10,875 number of children were eligible for the study and 7903 presented the health card. BCG coverage was 97.4% for children holding a health card. A BCG-compatible scar was observed in 99.0% of all children and in 99.6% of children with recorded BCG in the card. A total of 93.4% of children had been vaccinated with BCG within their first 28 days of life. None of the factors analysed were found to be associated with lack of BCG vaccination except for living in the municipality of Maluana compared to living in the municipality of Manhiça; (OR = 1.89, 95% CI: 1.18-3.00). Coverage for other EPI vaccines during the first year of life was similarly high, but decreased for subsequent doses.ConclusionsBCG coverage is high and timely administered. Almost all vaccinated infants develop scar, which is a useful proxy for monitoring BCG vaccine implementation.
Highlights
Over the past four decades, the World Health Organization established the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to foster universal access to all relevant vaccines for all children at risk
Population and socio-demographic characteristics According to Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça (CISM)’s Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) database, 11,537 children were born between 1st January 2011 and 31st December 2014 in the district of Manhiça
Of 2972 children whose card was not available, 48.9% of cases declared the reason was that the adult responding to the HDSS questions could not find the card and, in almost a quarter, 23.1%, no reason was recorded
Summary
Over the past four decades, the World Health Organization established the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to foster universal access to all relevant vaccines for all children at risk The success of this program has been undeniable, but requires periodic monitoring to ensure that coverage rates remain high. The efficacy of BCG against pulmonary TB has been questioned [4], it remains an essential approach for prevention of the most severe forms of TB in children (with an estimated efficacy against miliary TB and TB meningitis of 77 and 73% respectively) [5, 6] It reduces infection [7] and all-cause mortality through non-specific effects of the immune system [8]. An added importance of BCG is its proximity to the delivery event and being the entry point to EPI and other health packages [12]
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