Using better data boosts vaccination rates for kids in urban areas: Tanzania study.

Cities are growing as a result of urbanization, forcing more people to establish settlements in peripheral areas–often without access to regular healthcare.

In this environment, many kids don’t recieve any of the vaccines they otherwise would as a matter of routine. Eradicating vaccine-preventable childhood diseases can become extremely difficult when there are large groups of these ‘zero-dose’ children.

A new study in the journal Advances in Preventive Medicine and Health Care shares results of a pilot conducted in the Dar es Salaam region in Tanzania. The pilot mapped zero-dose children and then redesigned and implemented an updated intervention package.

The package included offering immunization clinics on weekends, building hew outreach posts in emerging settlements that previously had no health facilities, and working with community health workers to identify, track, and work with zero-does children and their caregivers.

The pilot proved that using data-driven outreach methods helps reach more kids who haven’t been vaccinated. It also showed that involving communities is important for increasing vaccine coverage.