Introduction of inactivated polio vaccine in the Center East region of Burkina Faso in 2018: lessons learned Introduction of inactivated polio vaccine in Burkina Faso Section MEDICAL SCIENCE

Abstract

Introduction:

To reduce the risk of re-emergency of type 2 poliovirus and boost children's immunity to type 1 and 3 poliovirus, Burkina Faso introduced inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) into routine immunization in 2018. This study was carried out to describe and draw lessons from the process of introducing this new vaccine into the local health system of Central East health region in Burkina Faso.

Materials and method

This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that covered the 7 health districts in the Central East region. It combined quantitative and qualitative methods in order to describe the process of introducing IPV and to collect the opinion of beneficiaries.

Results

A total of 223 health workers in 93.0% of health centers in the region and 39 mothers of children vaccinated with IPV participated in the survey. The staff responsible for coordinating the intervention had 6.5 years of experience in the management of vaccination programs (SD = ± 2.6 years) compared to 7.7 years (SD = ± 2.3 years) for health center workers. Over 87.0% of target children had received vaccination two months after the introduction of IPV with an average of 39.2 children per health center (SD = ± 0.37). The average age of children who received IPV vaccine was 4.25 months (SD = ± 0.37). The proportion of vaccinated children who presented with minor adverse events following vaccination was 9 ‰. Only 58.9% of surveyed mothers knew what disease their child had been vaccinated against.

Conclusion

This study described the process of introducing IPV into the Central East region as well as beneficiaries' perception of this new vaccine. It revealed the need to give a particular emphasis on communication with beneficiaries in order to strengthen their support and anticipate any reluctance in the strategy implementation.