Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress 2023 EHA Congress 2023 ASCO Annual Meeting
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on sleep in brain health

LIVE: Thursday 2nd May 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)

Quality sleep is essential for health. But what happens to our brains when sleep patterns are disturbed? Join our experts to explore the interplay between sleep disruption and neurological diseases, and the questions that you need to be asking your patients to help you prevent the harmful effects of sleep deprivation.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
BMC Health Services Research
Published in: BMC Health Services Research 2/2017

Open Access 01-11-2017 | Research

Feasibility of implementing a cellphone-based reminder/recall strategy to improve childhood routine immunization in a low-resource setting: a descriptive report

Authors: Victoria Bolanle Brown, O. Abimbola Oluwatosin

Published in: BMC Health Services Research | Special Issue 2/2017

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Reminder/recall systems are effective ways to improve immunization rates, but their feasibility in primary health care (PHC) settings in Nigeria has not been adequately evaluated. In this study we describe the acceptability and adaptability of immunization reminder/recall system in an urban setting in southwest Nigeria.

Methods

This is a descriptive report of a cluster randomized controlled trial. Four local government areas (LGAs) were randomly assigned into a cellphone reminder/recall intervention group or a usual care control group. Within each LGA, PHC centers were purposively selected to participate in the study. In each PHC center, mothers and their infants aged 0–3 months were enrolled into the two groups during the infants’ first immunization visit. Mothers (or other contact persons) in the intervention group received cellphone calls reminding them to take their child for scheduled immunizations. Follow-up of all the children lasted till the final scheduled immunization visit for each child. The intervention lasted for 13 months.

Results

A total of 595 mothers/infants pairs (295 in the intervention group and 300 in the control group) participated in the study. Almost all mothers (n = 590, 99.2%) had access to their own cellphone or had access to a cellphone belonging to a significant other. Ninety-eight percent (n = 584) of all mothers were willing to receive immunization reminder/recall phone calls.
Eighty-seven percent (n = 2023) of all calls (n = 2324) for the reminder/recall intervention went through to the recipients and of these calls, 1948 (96.3%) were received. The mean cost of each call in US Dollars was about 5 cents. Immunization compliance rate (the receipt of required number of doses of routine vaccines at the appropriate age at recommended interval) was 79.2% among the children in intervention group and 46.4% in the control group (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Results demonstrate that cellphone reminder/recall interventions to improve routine childhood immunization are feasible in PHC settings in limited-resource settings with wide cellphone coverage, such as urban areas in Nigeria. Further research to test the potential for scale up in a variety of settings is recommended.

Trial registration

PACTR20170200204​3415; Date of registration: 17 February 2017. (Retrospectively registered).
Literature
1.
2.
3.
Andre FE, Booy R, Bock HL, Clemens J, Datta SK, John TJ, Lee BW, Lolekha S, Peltola H, Ruff TA, Santosham M, Schmitt HJ. Vaccination greatly reduces disease, disability, death and inequity worldwide. Bull World Health Organ. 2008;86(2):140–6.CrossRefPubMed
4.
National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. General recommendations on immunization: recommendations of the advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP). MMWR Recomm Rep. 2011;60(2):1–64.
5.
6.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Global routine vaccination coverage, 2011. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2012;61(43):883–5.
7.
Jacobson Vann JC, Szilagyi P. Patient reminder and patient recall systems to improve immunization rates. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2005;20(3):CD003941.
8.
Vora S, Verber L, Potts S, Dozier T, Daum RS. Effect of a novel birth intervention and reminder-recall on on-time immunization compliance in high-risk children. Hum Vaccin. 2009;5(6):395–402.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Stockwell MS, Kharbanda EO, Martinez RA, Vargas CY, Vawdrey DK, Camargo S. Effect of a text messaging intervention on influenza vaccination in an urban, low-income pediatric and adolescent population: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA. 2012;307(16):1702–8. doi:10.​1001/​jama.​2012.​502.CrossRefPubMed
10.
11.
12.
Alto WA, Fury D, Cndo A, Doran M, Aduddell M. Improving the immunization coverage of children less than 7 years old in a family practice residency. J Am Board Fam Pract. 1994;7:472–7.PubMed
13.
14.
Alemi F, Alemagno SA, Goldhagen J, Ash L, Finkelstein B, Lavin A, et al. Computer reminders improve on-time immunization rates. Med Care. 1996;34:OS45–51.CrossRefPubMed
15.
Dini EF, Linkins RF, Sigafoos J. The impact of computer-generated messages on childhood immunization coverage. Am J Prev Med. 2000;18:132–9.CrossRefPubMed
16.
Hicks P, Tarr GAM, Hicks XP. Reminder cards and immunization rates among latinos and the rural poor in Northeast Colorado. J Am Board Fam Med. 2007;20(6):581–6.CrossRefPubMed
17.
18.
Cicolini G, Simonetti V, Comparcini D, Celiberti I, Di Nicola M, Capasso LM, Flacco ME, Bucci M, Mezzetti A, Manzoli L. Efficacy of a nurse-led email reminder program for cardiovascular prevention risk reduction in hypertensive patients: a randomized controlled trial. Int J Nurs Stud. 2014;51(6):833–43. doi:10.​1016/​j.​ijnurstu.​2013.​10.​010.CrossRefPubMed
19.
Egede LE, Strom JL, Durkalski VL, Mauldin PD, Moran WP. Rationale and design: telephone-delivered behavioral skills interventions for blacks with type 2 diabetes. Trials. 2010;29(11):35. doi:10.​1186/​1745-6215-11-35.CrossRef
20.
21.
Federal Government of Nigeria. Legal notice on publication of 2006 Census Final Results. Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette. 2009;96(2):B38.
22.
National Population Commission (NPC) [Nigeria] and ICF International. 2014. Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2013. Abuja, Nigeria, and Rockville, Maryland, USA: NPC and ICF International.
23.
24.
National Bureau of Statistics and Nigerian Communication Commission. Nigerian telecommunications summary report December 2016. Nigeria: National Bureau of Statistics; 2017.
25.
Brown VB, Oluwatosin OA, Akinyemi JO, Adeyemo AA. Effects of community health nurse-led intervention on childhood routine immunization completion in primary health care centers in Ibadan. Nigeria J Community Health. 2016;41(2):265–73. doi:10.​1007/​s10900-015-0092-3.CrossRefPubMed
26.
27.
28.
Balogun MR, Sekoni AO, Okafor JP, Odukoya OO, Ezeiru SS, Ogunnowo BF, Campbell PC. Access to information technology and willingness to receive text message reminders for childhood immunization among mothers attending a tertiary facility in Lagos. Nigeria SAJCH. 2012;6:76–80.
29.
Sadoh AE, Okungbowa E. Nigerian mothers opinion of reminder/recall for immunization. Nig J Pediatr. 2014;41(1):38–42.CrossRef
30.
Clark SJ, Butchart A, Kennedy A, Dombkowski KJ. Parents’ experiences with and preferences for immunization reminder/recall technologies. Pediatrics. 2011;128(5):e1100–5.CrossRefPubMed
31.
Fapohunda ER, Todaro MP. Family structure, implicit contracts, and the demand for children in southern Nigeria. Popul Dev Rev. 1988;14(4):571–94.CrossRef
32.
33.
34.
Wang HH, Wu SZ, Liu YY. Association between social support and health outcomes: a meta-analysis. Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2003;19(7):345–51.CrossRefPubMed
35.
36.
Bangdiwala SI, Fonn S, Okoye O, Tollman S. Workforce resources for health in developing countries. Public Health Rev. 2010;32(1):296–318.CrossRef
37.
38.
39.
40.
Oladokun RE, Adedokun BO, Lawoyin TO. Children not receiving adequate immunization in Ibadan, Nigeria: what reasons and beliefs do their mothers have? Niger J Clin Pract. 2010;13(2):173–8.PubMed
41.
Brown VB, Oluwatosin OA. Socio-demographic factors associated with childhood immunization uptake in Akinyele local government area, Oyo state, Nigeria. Afr. J. Med. Med. Sci. 2012;41(2):161–7.
42.
Rahji FR, Ndikom CM. Factors influencing compliance with immunization regimen among mothers in Ibadan, Nigeria. IOSR-JNHS. 2013;2(2):01–9.CrossRef
Metadata
Title
Feasibility of implementing a cellphone-based reminder/recall strategy to improve childhood routine immunization in a low-resource setting: a descriptive report
Authors
Victoria Bolanle Brown
O. Abimbola Oluwatosin
Publication date
01-11-2017
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Health Services Research / Issue Special Issue 2/2017
Electronic ISSN: 1472-6963
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-017-2639-8

Other articles of this Special Issue 2/2017

BMC Health Services Research 2/2017 Go to the issue

Research

Health practitioners’ emotional reactions to caring for hospitalized children in Lomé, Togo: a qualitative study

Research

Analyzing implementation dynamics using theory-driven evaluation principles: lessons learnt from a South African centralized chronic dispensing model

Research

Task shifting in the management of hypertension in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: a cross-sectional study

Research

Measurement and analysis of inequality of opportunity in access of maternal and child health care in Togo

Introduction

“It takes more than a fellowship program”: reflections on capacity strengthening for health systems research in sub-Saharan Africa

Research

A descriptive study of treatment provision for problem alcohol drinking in adult males in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, South Africa