JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Globally, over 20 million children are unvaccinated and over 25 million missed their follow-up doses during the Novel Corona (COVID-19) pandemic, facing vaccine preventable diseases and unnecessary deaths, especially those with HIV or living in vul-nerable settings. Using cell phones to send reminders to parents is shown to improve vaccination rates.

Objective:

The aim of this pilot study is to determine whether implementation of an automated Short Messaging Service (SMS) reminder will improve child vaccination rates in a turbulent, semi-urban/semi-rural setting, in a low-income country.

Methods:

This will be a non-randomized controlled trial that will be conducted at Azire Integrated Health Centre, Bamenda, Cameroon. A total of 200 parents, per study group, aged over 18, registered at the clinic at least one month prior to the study will be recruited. The intervention group will receive two reminders, at one week, and also at 2 days prior to the vaccination schedule. For those who miss their appointments, a reminder will be sent 1week post their missed appointment. The control group will receive the regular care provided at the clinic. Baseline information, clinical visit, and vaccination records will be collected for both groups.

Results:

. Fisher’s Exact Test will be used to compare parent-child units returned for follow-up visits (%) and children vaccinated as scheduled (%) between study groups. Finally, we will compare both study groups for returning back to one follow-up visit, using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

Conclusions:

Due to limited effective child vaccination interventions in unstable settings, this study will be of high importance for suggesting a holistic approach to improve child vaccination and public health.