Specialised data support centres now working to track missed children

Islamabad
As many as 11 specialised Data Support Centres (DSCs) had been established and functionalised across the country during the national polio campaign held from March 16-18 to collect reliable information regarding missed children from the 554 high-risk Union Councils (HRUCs) in 39 districts of Pakistan.
“A mechanism for collecting information directly from vaccinator tally sheets has been put into place to have verifiable information on missed children in HRUCs,” said Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq while reviewing the impact of the initiative taken by the National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) on recommendations of the National Advisory Group.
These data centres, which are manned by over 400 data entry clerks, serve as the central repository for recording and data entry of vaccinator tally sheets on a daily basis. The centres record all missed children, regardless of the reasons.
“The efficient transmission of data on missed children, directly from the field, will facilitate timely coverage and will thus be instrumental in delivering high-quality SIAs across the HRUCs,” stated Dr. Rana Muhammad Safdar, national EOC coordinator.
During the March polio campaign, tally sheets from frontline workers were computerised and shared online for real time response and follow-ups. During the campaign, data from 19,694 tally sheets have been entered into the database at the 11 DSCs. A total number of 717,506 households were visited. Of the 1,457,287 children recorded, 1,382,212 were vaccinated and 75,075 were not vaccinated. Data recorded for the March NIDs shows that a total of 75,075 children who were missed during the first round of vaccination in high-risk UCs were tracked and over 22,000 children out of the total missed children were vaccinated during catch-up days.
“The establishment of these centres reflects a paradigm shift in the polio eradication initiative where chronically missed children are being tracked for vaccination through all possible interventions. The goal of polio eradication relies on reaching out to 5-6% missed children that remain inaccessible in each campaign. The EOC is exploring all means to track missed children; these include vaccination at permanent transit points, installation of health camps in high-risk areas, and inclusion of female community volunteers in the programme,” a press release of the ministry of health stated.