MUSCAT: The Ministry of Health (MoH) will begin implementation of National Immunisation Coverage Survey for children in the age group 1.5 and five years, as well as their mothers in all the governorates from Monday.
The survey, which continues until March 20, aims to validate the results of routine reports and provide information, in addition to number of people who have been adequately immunised at all levels (at the national, governorate and wilayat levels).
It also aims to guide executive policies by presenting best practices, highlighting challenges that require interactive intervention to improve the performance of the national immunisation programme, and identifying the reasons for delay in taking vaccinations from the scheduled appointments or any reluctance to take them.
The survey’s target is to visit 5,289 homes to obtain immunisation data for 16,470 of the target groups, the category of children from one year and a half to five years of age to verify the immunisation data in different age stages according to the national immunisation schedule, and the category of mothers who have children under the age of 5 years (to verify if they have vaccinated during pregnancy).
The field survey teams will visit the randomly selected houses in various wilayats of the Sultanate of Oman. The team will first ask whether there are target groups in the house; if any, a verbal consent to start the survey will be obtained.
The immunisation data of the target groups will be obtained directly from mothers or the child’s caregiver. The survey team will use an electronic or paper questionnaire form prepared in advance by the team to collect the required data. The survey team will upload a copy of the immunisation cards (pink for children) or (green for mothers) for documentation.
The presence of the child is not required during the survey. In case of an unvaccinated child, they will be referred to the nearest health centre. No vaccines, medicines, or taking samples will be done during the survey.
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