Abstract

Immunisation managers often depend on immunisation coverage obtained from immunisation data monitoring system to guide planning. However, limited studies have been carried out to verify the accuracy or determine the quality of the immunisation information system at the Health Facilities (HFs) and Local Government Areas (LGAs), which are the sources of the data reported to the state and national levels. This study was to assess the quality and accuracy of immunisation data in Ogbaru (OGB) and Onitsha North (ONN) LGAs of Anambra State, Nigeria. A WHO validated methodology of immunisation Data Quality Audit was used. All the HFs conducting immunisation in OGB (28) and ONN (20) as well as the two LGAs’ Immunisation Units (IUs) were visited. The records of DPT3 immunisation at the HFs from January to December, 2009 was recounted and compared with reported data at the LGA IUs for the same period. An Accuracy Ratio (AR) which expresses the ratio of immunisation recounted at the HFs to that reported to the LGAs IUs was obtained. AR of ≥0.95 to ≤1.05 indicates data consistency. Immunisation Focal Persons (IFPs) in each HFs were interviewed using a validated tool that contained a 70 point knowledge scale and a 120 item quality score (QS) on data monitoring system. The proportion of HFs with consistent data were 27.6% and 42.9% (p<0.05) in OGB and ONN respectively. The overall AR was 89.8% in OGB and 96.3% in ONN. The mean knowledge score among IFPs in the LGAs was 44.0±8.0 and 46.2±6.9 (p<0.05), while the mean QS for HFs was 74.5±18.0 and 73.6±13.2 in OGB and ONN respectively (p<0.05). There was a fair correlation between the overall QS and the overall knowledge score in the two LGAs, r=0.3 (p>0.05). Auditing showed inconsistent data and low quality of data reporting in the LGAs.