Mobile Phone Reminders (and Photovoice) for Routine Immunization in Nigeria - The MOPING Study

EFFICACY OF MOBILE PHONE REMINDERS (AND PHOTOVOICE) IN IMPROVING CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATION UPTAKE AND REDUCING INCIDENCE OF VACCINE-PREVENTABLE DISEASES - A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL AMONG POSTPARTUM MOTHERS AND CAREGIVERS IN NIGERIA

This study aims to implement and test the efficacy of photovoice, Short Messaging Service (SMS) and phone call reminders in improving childhood immunization coverage (uptake, timeliness and completion rates) and reducing incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs) among infants in Nigeria

This will be a single-blind three-arm cluster randomized controlled trial involving post-partum mothers and/or caregivers of infants (age 0-12months) attending immunization clinics in 12 randomly selected Primary Health Care Centres (clusters) across Sokoto, Jigawa, Kano, Ogun, Oyo and Lagos States of Nigeria. Additionally, a photovoice methodology will be implemented in 6 community clusters (one in each State) involving group discussions between community members (pregnant women in their third trimester, parents/caregivers of infants age 0-12 months), community leaders, service providers and policy makers on benefits of timely immunization and consequences of non-vaccination. Parent-infant pairs will be followed up for 12 months during which SMS and phone call immunization clinic appointment reminders will be provided to mothers and/or caregivers in intervention arm 1, and photovoice intervention provided at study commencement to participants in intervention arm 2. Respondents in the control group would receive standard care (routine paper-based appointment scheduling alone). The investigators will document and compare immunization uptake (all doses and vaccines), timeliness of receipt and completion rates of scheduled immunization between the three groups, as well as incidence of VPDs between the groups using multivariate statistical analyses.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Mothers/caregivers of healthy infants (age 0 - 12 months) who:

  1. Have a mobile phone access
  2. Received antenatal care and/or delivered their babies in a hospital
  3. Plans to receive immunizations at the selected PHCs

• Purposively-selected community sample of pregnant women in their third trimester, parents/caregivers of infants, providers, community gatekeepers and policy makers

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Parents of infants requiring hospital admission due to significant illness, congenital deformity/malformation and prematurity
2. Foreigners