Child Nutrition and Health Campaign in 2012 in Zambia: Coverage Rates for Measles, Oral Polio Vaccine, Vitamin A, and De-worming

Abstract

Introduction: Vaccines mitigate the severity of the diseases, prevent infections, and reduce the complications associated with infections. Following the 2012 measles campaign in Zambia, a cross sectional study was conducted to es- timate coverage rates for measles, Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV), Vitamin A, and de-worming. Materials and Methods: Using a cluster sampling method, 9 children were sampled for measles vaccination, Vitamin A and de-worming from each of the 40 clusters, and sampled 9 children in each of the 22 out of 40 clusters for OPV vacci- nation where it was distributed. Estimates and their 95 % confidence intervals are reported. Results: Data were available for analysis from 359 parent/care taker children pairs to determine measles coverage, 190 for OPV supplementation coverage, 270 for Vitamin A coverage, and 336 for de-worming coverage. Most of the children were aged 1 or 2 years (57.8% in measles sample, 62.9% in OPV sample, 61.8% in Vitamin A sample, and 63.6% in de- worming sample). A total of 345 (96.1%) children were vaccinated against measles. A total of 157 (83.1%) children re- ceived OPV, 257 (95.5%) received Vitamin A, and 313 (93.4%) were de-wormed. About 6 in 10 of the respondents re- ported that the health worker was the source of information and the key messages were encouraging children to go for vaccination and advantages for vaccination. Conclusion: The 2012 measles campaign in Zambia was a great success but continued efforts are needed to adhere to the World Health Organization/United Nations Children's Fund (WHO/UNICEF) strategy to control measles.