Conference abstract
Impact of the socio-political crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon on the expanded program of vaccination
Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2023:18(148).03
Oct 2023.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2023.18.148.2258
Archived on: 03 Oct 2023
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Keywords: Socio-political crisis, performance, vaccination, Cameroon
Oral presentation
Impact of the socio-political crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon on the expanded program of vaccination
Tewantsa Judical Marcelin1,&, Cavin Epie Bekolo2
1Hope for nations, Dschang, Cameroon, 2Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Dschang, Cameroon
&Corresponding author
Introduction: socio-political crises have long been recognized as major obstacles in the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases. However, in Cameroon, the impact of the ongoing socio-political crisis on the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in the North West (NW) and South West (SW) regions has not been fully examined. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of this crisis on the performance of the EPI.
Methods: this was a secondary data analysis. The data were obtained from the standard EPI data collection tools, from all the health districts in the two regions. The Z-test statistic was used to estimate the differences between our coverage, including BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine), PENTA (pentavalent vaccine), and Measles-rubella (RR) coverage, according to the periods for each region, i.e., between the years 2014 to 2016 (pre-conflict), and 2017 to 2019 (during the conflict).
Results: in both regions, vaccination coverage rates for key antigens showed a statistically significant decline. There was a drop in immunization coverage between the 3 years before the crisis and the first 3 years of the crisis of 7% in PENTA-3; and 8% in RR1 with an increase in the overall drop-out rate of 3% in NW. In the SW, average vaccination coverage had decreased by 22% for BCG, 33% for PENTA-3, and 36% for RR1 with an increase in the average overall dropout rate of 16% between the pre-crisis and the first years of the crisis.
Conclusion: the results found suggest that the decline in immunization performance in the conflict zone of Cameroon may be due to disruption of health services and increased insecurity limiting access to immunization services. Significant increases in vaccination strategies can improve performance in these areas, although other factors not considered in our study may contribute to the decline in vaccination performance.
Impact of the socio-political crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon on the expanded program of vaccination
Tewantsa Judical Marcelin1,&, Cavin Epie Bekolo2
1Hope for nations, Dschang, Cameroon, 2Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Dschang, Cameroon
&Corresponding author
Introduction: socio-political crises have long been recognized as major obstacles in the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases. However, in Cameroon, the impact of the ongoing socio-political crisis on the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) in the North West (NW) and South West (SW) regions has not been fully examined. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of this crisis on the performance of the EPI.
Methods: this was a secondary data analysis. The data were obtained from the standard EPI data collection tools, from all the health districts in the two regions. The Z-test statistic was used to estimate the differences between our coverage, including BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccine), PENTA (pentavalent vaccine), and Measles-rubella (RR) coverage, according to the periods for each region, i.e., between the years 2014 to 2016 (pre-conflict), and 2017 to 2019 (during the conflict).
Results: in both regions, vaccination coverage rates for key antigens showed a statistically significant decline. There was a drop in immunization coverage between the 3 years before the crisis and the first 3 years of the crisis of 7% in PENTA-3; and 8% in RR1 with an increase in the overall drop-out rate of 3% in NW. In the SW, average vaccination coverage had decreased by 22% for BCG, 33% for PENTA-3, and 36% for RR1 with an increase in the average overall dropout rate of 16% between the pre-crisis and the first years of the crisis.
Conclusion: the results found suggest that the decline in immunization performance in the conflict zone of Cameroon may be due to disruption of health services and increased insecurity limiting access to immunization services. Significant increases in vaccination strategies can improve performance in these areas, although other factors not considered in our study may contribute to the decline in vaccination performance.
