Service delivery in postpandemic period for routine childhood immunization in Assam following capacity building with BRIDGE IPC Skill tool

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: For COVID-19 pandemic and associated factors, around 25 million children missed routine immunization in 2021. NFHS-5 for Assam reported 67% coverage with routine immunization in 2019–21 which is below national average (77%) and lowest among Indian States/UTs. Lack of knowledge and skill among provider can reduce coverage. To address vaccine hesitancy and demand generation for routine immunization, BRIDGE IPC Skills (Boosting Routine Immunization Demand Generation) training in routine immunization for frontline workers considered an effective tool. Objectives: To estimate the service delivery in postpandemic period for routine childhood immunization in Assam following capacity building with a BRIDGE IPC Skill tool. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional comparative study was conducted among immunization service providers from April 2022 to March 2023, where training coverage of service providers on BRIDGE IPC Skill was assessed. Comparison was made between functionalities of trained services by service providers with untrained ones. Results: A total of 2312 session sites were visited, of which 67.7% of frontline workers were trained, while 32.3% were not trained. Alternate vaccine delivery was present in 58.5%. Updated due list was present in 64.1% vs 29.8% in trained and untrained sites. Significant association was found between delivery of key message and status of frontline worker on BRIDGE IPC Skill training. Conclusion: Capacity building of frontline workers on BRIDGE IPC Skill can boost efficiency of frontline workers and may facilitate in addressing gaps that EXIST between health care system and community.