advanced search

<< Back To Home

WHAT'S NEW THIS SUNDAY: RAPID MONITORING OF CAMPAIGN COVERAGE: PMTCT IN URBAN ANGOLA; ACCELERATING VACCINE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT

Friday, 22nd of June 2012

• RAPID MONITORING OF CAMPAIGN COVERAGE; PMTCT IN URBAN ANGOLA; ACCELERATING VACCINE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT
  
• RAPID MONITORING OF COVERAGE DURING A NATIONAL IMMUNIZATION CAMPAIGN, BRAZIL

Abstract is below. Full text is at
http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49892011000700002&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en

Brazilian Experience With Rapid Monitoring Of Vaccination Coverage During A National Rubella Elimination Campaign

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To describe an adapted version of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) methodology for rapid monitoring of vaccination coverage and its use as a supervisory tool to guide decision-making and strategies for end-stage vaccination activities ("mopup" operations) following a six-week national rubella elimination campaign in Brazil.

METHODS: Vaccination coverage assessments modeled on a variation of PAHO's rapid house-to-house coverage monitoring methodology were conducted by Brazilian municipalities following mass immunization of adults and adolescents from August to December 2008. Results of monitoring assessments conducted in 3 658 (65.7%) of 5 564 municipalities were reported to Brazil's National Immunization Program.

RESULTS: Information on vaccination against rubella was obtained from more than 1.5 million Brazilians (2.1% of the 70.1 million people targeted for immunization) during vaccination coverage monitoring. According to the assessment data, vaccination targets of 95% coverage were reached in 2 175 (59.5%) of the 3 658 municipalities that reported results. The percentage of municipalities that reached coverage targets was lower than administrative coverage estimates (number of vaccine doses administered divided by the immunization target population). These results informed targeted "mop-up" campaigns to reach unvaccinated populations.

CONCLUSIONS: Rapid coverage monitoring implemented at the local level proved useful for deciding when to conclude vaccination activities and where to focus additional efforts to achieve desired coverage. 

 

• PMTCT IN AN URBAN HOSPITAL IN ANGOLA

Abstract below; full text is at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0036381

PLoS One. 2012;7(4):e36381. Epub 2012 Apr 30.

Effectiveness of a Prevention of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission Programme in an Urban Hospital in Angola

Lussiana C, Clemente SV, Ghelardi A, Lonardi M, Pulido Tarquino IA, Floridia M.

Source

Infectious Diseases Laboratory, Hospital Divina Providencia, Luanda, Angola.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Antiretroviral therapy is effective in reducing rates of mother-to child transmission of HIV to low levels in resource-limited contexts but the applicability and efficacy of these programs in the field are scarcely known. In order to explore such issues, we performed a descriptive study on retrospective data from hospital records of HIV-infected pregnant women who accessed in 2007-2010 the Luanda Municipal Hospital service for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). The main outcome measure was infant survival and HIV transmission. Our aim was to evaluate PMTCT programme in a local hospital setting in Africa.

RESULTS:

Data for 104 pregnancies and 107 infants were analysed. Sixty-eight women (65.4%) had a first visit before or during pregnancy and received combination antiretroviral treatment (ART) in pregnancy. The remaining 36 women (34.6%) presented after delivery and received no ART during pregnancy. Across a median cohort follow-up time of 73 weeks, mortality among women with and without ART in pregnancy was 4.4% and 16.7%, respectively (death hazard ratio: 0.30, 95% CI 0.07-1.20, p = 0.089). The estimated rates of HIV transmission or death in the infants over a median follow up time of 74 weeks were 8.5% with maternal ART during pregnancy and 38.9% without maternal ART during pregnancy. Following adjustment for use of oral zidovudine in the newborn and exposure to maternal milk, no ART in pregnancy remained associated with a 5-fold higher infant risk of HIV transmission or death (adjusted odds ratio: 5.13, 95% CI: 1.31-20.15, p = 0.019).

CONCLUSIONS:

Among the women and infants adhering to the PMTCT programme, HIV transmission and mortality were low. However, many women presented too late for PMTCT, and about 20% of infants did not complete follow up. This suggests the need of targeted interventions that maintain the access of mothers and infants to prevention and care services for HIV.

 

• ACCELERATING VACCINE DEVELOPMENT AND DEPLOYMENT

 

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2011 Oct 12;366(1579):2841-9.

Accelerating Vaccine Development and Deployment: Report of a Royal Society satellite meeting

Bregu M, Draper SJ, Hill AV, Greenwood BM.

Abstract below; full text is at http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/366/1579/2841.long

Source

Jenner Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. migena.bregu@ndm.ox.ac.uk

Abstract

The Royal Society convened a meeting on the 17th and 18th November 2010 to review the current ways in which vaccines are developed and deployed, and to make recommendations as to how each of these processes might be accelerated. The meeting brought together academics, industry representatives, research sponsors, regulators, government advisors and representatives of international public health agencies from a broad geographical background. Discussions were held under Chatham House rules. High-throughput screening of new vaccine antigens and candidates was seen as a driving force for vaccine discovery. Multi-stakeholder, small-scale manufacturing facilities capable of rapid production of clinical grade vaccines are currently too few and need to be expanded. In both the human and veterinary areas, there is a need for tiered regulatory standards, differentially tailored for experimental and commercial vaccines, to allow accelerated vaccine efficacy testing. Improved cross-fertilization of knowledge between industry and academia, and between human and veterinary vaccine developers, could lead to more rapid application of promising approaches and technologies to new product development. Identification of best-practices and development of checklists for product development plans and implementation programmes were seen as low-cost opportunities to shorten the timeline for vaccine progression from the laboratory bench to the people who need it.