Knowledge of Adverse Events Following Immunization and Awareness of its Reporting System among Primary Healthcare Workers in Jigawa State

Abstract

Background: Healthcare workers (HCWs) have an essential and pivotal role to play in gaining and maintaining public confidence in the safety of vaccines through operational Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) surveillance. For primary healthcare workers to be able to do this work effectively they should have the knowledge to detect an AEFI and at the same time be conversant with the reporting system. Objective: This study determined the knowledge of Adverse Events Following Immunization and the awareness of its reporting system among HCWs in primary health care centers of Jigawa State. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 290 HCWs working in immunization units, selected through a multistage sampling technique. Data were collected using a pre-tested self-administered structured questionnaire. The data collected was sorted, checked for completeness, and entered into computer analysis software (IBM SPSS version 20) for analysis. The results obtained were presented in tables and charts. All statistical tests were two-tailed with a p-value of < 0.05 used as the statistical significance level. Results: About 167 (57.6%) of the respondents were aged between 21-30 years with a mean age of 31.3±7.4 years. The majority 278 (95.9%) of the primary HCWs were aware of AEFI, and seminars/workshops or training were the common sources of information on AEFI (216 (77.7%). Of the 278 primary HCWs that are aware of AEFI, only 120 (43.2%) could define AEFI correctly, and 142 (51.1%) and 87 (31.3%) could identify serious AEFI and non-serious (minor) as a type of AEFI respectively. Up to 213 (76.6%) of healthcare workers know the correct AEFI reporting flow, and only 44 (15.8%) know that only serious AEFI are reported. Conclusion: The majority of the primary healthcare workers were aware of AEFI and how to report it, but few had good knowledge of reporting it. The Jigawa State Primary Healthcare Development Agency in collaboration with Local government authorities should provide on the-job training on AEFI surveillance for the primary healthcare workers especially those that provide immunization services.