Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Li, Xi
• Heffelfinger, James
• Wiesen, Eric
• Diorditsa, Sergey
• Valiakolleri, Jayaprakash
• Nikuata, Agnes Bauro
• Nukuro, Ezekial
• Tabwaia, Beia
• Woodring, Joseph

Titel

Improving hepatitis B birth dose coverage through village health volunteer training and pregnant women education

Ist Teil von

• Vaccine, 2017-08, Vol.35 (34), p.4396-4401

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Elsevier Ltd

Erscheinungsjahr

2017

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• •Kiribati has high chronic hepatitis B prevalence and suboptimal vaccine coverage.•The project trained village health volunteers and health workers to educate pregnant women on hepatitis B vaccination.•The linkages between village health volunteers and health workers were strengthened.•Timely birth dose coverage increased after the project in South Tarawa and the Outer Islands. Hepatitis B is highly endemic in the Republic of Kiribati, while the coverage of timely birth dose vaccination, the primary method shown to prevent mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B virus, was only 66% in 2014. Children born at home are especially at high risk, as they have limited access to timely birth dose (i.e. within 24 h) vaccination. To improve birth dose coverage, a project to improve linkages between village health volunteers and health workers and educate pregnant women on hepatitis B vaccination was carried out in 16 communities with low birth dose coverage in Kiribati from November 2014 to May 2015. After project completion, the coverage of timely birth dose administration increased significantly both in the densely populated capital region of South Tarawa (from 89% to 95%, p=0.001) and the Outer Islands (from 57% to 83%, p<0.001). The coverage of timely birth dose administration among infants born at home increased significantly from 70% to 84% in South Tarawa (p=0.001) and from 49% to 75% in the Outer Islands (p<0.001). Timely birth dose was associated with being born in a hospital, being born during the study period and caregivers having developed an antenatal birth dose plan. The project demonstrates a successful model for improving hepatitis B vaccine birth dose coverage that could be adopted in other areas in Kiribati as well as other similar settings.