title: Reducing resistance to polio immunisation with free health camps and Bluetooth messaging: An update from Kaduna, Northern, Nigeria.
abstract: Since 1997, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has sponsored regular door-to-door polio immunisation campaigns in northern Nigeria. On 30 July 2015, the country was finally declared poliofree, a hard won success. At various times, polio eradication has been threatened by rumours and community tensions. For example, in 2003, local Imams, traditional leaders and politicians declared a polio campaign boycott, due to the concerns about the safety of the polio vaccine. Although the campaigns resumed in 2004, many parents continued to refuse vaccination because of the persistence of rumours of vaccine contamination, and anger about the poor state of health services for conditions other than polio. To address this, UNICEF and Nigerian Government partners piloted two interventions: (1) mobile 'health camps' to provide ambulatory care for conditions other than polio and (2) an audiovisual clip about vaccine safety and other health issues, shareable on multimedia mobile phones via Bluetooth pairing. The mobile phone survey found that Bluetooth compatible messages could rapidly spread behavioural health messages in low-literacy communities. The health camps roughly doubled polio vaccine uptake in the urban ward where it was piloted. This suggests that polio eradication would have been accelerated by improving primary health care services.
authors.affiliation: a UNICEF-Nigeria , Kaduna , Nigeria.
authors.forename: Gerida
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Birukila
authors.affiliation: b Kaduna State Primary Healthcare Development Agency , Kaduna , Nigeria.|c Department of Community Medicine , Ahmadu Bello University Zaria , Zaria , Nigeria.
authors.forename: Sufiyan M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Babale
authors.affiliation: d Division of Social Sciences , Bard College , Annandale-on-Hudson , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Helen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Epstein
authors.affiliation: e National Polio Emergency Operations Centre , Kaduna , Nigeria.|f Kaduna Polytechnic , Kaduna , Nigeria.
authors.forename: Victor
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gugong
authors.affiliation: a UNICEF-Nigeria , Kaduna , Nigeria.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Anger
authors.affiliation: a UNICEF-Nigeria , Kaduna , Nigeria.
authors.forename: Melissa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Corkum
authors.affiliation: a UNICEF-Nigeria , Kaduna , Nigeria.
authors.forename: Albarka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jehoshaphat Nebanat
authors.affiliation: a UNICEF-Nigeria , Kaduna , Nigeria.
authors.forename: Fredrick
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Musoke
authors.affiliation: g Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , Stop Transmission of Polio (STOP) Program , Atlanta , GA , USA.
authors.forename: Olaniran
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Alabi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D040421:Cell Phone / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends; D015897:Comorbidity; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017589:Immunization Programs / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D019212:Multimedia; D009313:National Health Programs / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009549:Nigeria; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011051:Poliomyelitis / Q000276:immunology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D023321:Poliovirus Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000600:supply & distribution; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D023321:Poliovirus Vaccines
keywords: Nigeria; Polio; immunisation; mHealth; primary health care