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. 2023 Jul 14;45(Suppl 2):5.
doi: 10.11604/pamj.supp.2023.45.2.38140. eCollection 2023.

Assessment of open data kit mobile technology adoption to enhance reporting of supportive supervision conducted for oral poliovirus vaccine supplementary immunization activities in Nigeria, March 2017-February 2020

Philip Bammeke  1 , Tesfaye Erbeto  2 , Aron Aregay  3 , Zabihullah Kamran  4 , Usman Said Adamu  5 , Eunice Damisa  5 , Nnamdi Usifoh  1 , Peter Nsubuga  6 , Ndadilnasiya Waziri  7 , Omotayo Bolu  1 , Edward Dagoe  1 , Faisal Shuaib  5
Affiliations

Assessment of open data kit mobile technology adoption to enhance reporting of supportive supervision conducted for oral poliovirus vaccine supplementary immunization activities in Nigeria, March 2017-February 2020

Philip Bammeke et al. Pan Afr Med J. .

Abstract

Introduction: in Nigeria, supportive supervision of Supplementary Immunization Activities (SIA) is a quality improvement strategy for providing support to vaccination teams administering the poliovirus vaccines to children under 5 years of age. Supervision activities were initially reported in paper forms. This had significant limitations, which led to Open Data Kit (ODK) technology being adopted in March 2017. A review was conducted to assess the impact of ODK for supervision reporting in place of paper forms.

Methods: issues with paper-based reporting and the benefits of ODK were recounted. We determined the average utilization of ODK per polio SIA rounds and assessed the supervision coverage over time based on the proportion of local government areas with ODK geolocation data per round.

Results: a total of 17 problematic issues were identified with paper-based reporting, and ODK addressed all the issues. Open Data Kit-based supervision reports increased from 3,125 in March 2017 to 51,060 in February 2020. Average ODK submissions for national rounds increased from 84 in March 2017 to 459 in February 2020 and for sub-national rounds increased from 533 in July 2017 to 1,596 in October 2019. Supportive supervision coverage improved from 42.5% in March 2017 to 97% in February 2020.

Conclusion: the use of digital technologies in public health has comparative advantages over paper forms, and the adoption of ODK for supervision reporting during polio SIAs in Nigeria experienced the advantages. The visibility and coverage of supportive supervision improved, consequentially contributing to the improved quality of polio SIAs.

Keywords: Open Data Kit; digital health; mobile technology; oral poliovirus vaccine; polio eradication; real-time data; supplementary immunization activities; supportive supervision; vaccination campaign.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
supportive supervision reports submitted with open data kit during polio supplementary immunization activities with bivalent oral polio vaccine from March 2017-February 2020
Figure 2
Figure 2
proportion of local government areas that participated in each round of polio supplementary immunization activities reached for supportive supervision based on open data kit reports, March 2017-February 2020
Figure 3
Figure 3
supportive supervision reach in Borno state, Nigeria as of day 2 of March 2017 (left map); polio supplementary immunization activities compared to March 2018 (right map)
Figure 4
Figure 4
overlay of supervision conducted based on the geolocation in open data kit reports over the type of settlements reached for vaccination based on settlements tracks from the vaccination tracking system in Gombe state, Nigeria during a polio supplementary immunization activities round in 2018
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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