Day 18 | COVID-19 Immunization Data Verification Campaign
Today, we (April and Rena) went out with the team responsible for verifying COVID-19 immunization information. On our first stop, we visited Ekwendeni Hospital with the two DHO (District Health Office) staff. There, we met with the senior Health Surveillance Assistant (HSA) to review their hospital’s COVID-19 data. The DHO officers interviewed her and she shared the COVID-19 vaccination activities, including the number of people from specific groups (including healthcare workers, people with chronic diseases, and elderly patients). All the information was divided by vaccine brand, including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna vaccines. In total, Ekwendeni aimed to have 60% of all people in the district vaccinated by the end of 2022, which was a similar target as last year. However, the district aims to vaccinate 70% of its population, so the senior HSA discussed raising Ekwendeni’s 2022 vaccination target. Overall, the visit was very productive and highlighted the diligent recordkeeping at Ekwendeni Hospital.
After our visit to Ekwendeni, we took an hour long ride to the Ruhomelo Health Post, which is located in the mountains. The senior HSA accompanied us, and together we met with the HSA who oversees Ruhomelo health activities. Together, we went through the same interview, although most of the conversation was conducted in Tumbuka (the local dialect). On the way back toward Mzuzu, we had the chance to talk with the HSAs about Malawi and shifts in health beliefs and behaviors over the past 15 years. It was also a great opportunity for us to gain experience with monitoring and evaluation activities in public health!
The other members in our group spent the day analyzing data from our pre-assessmnt questionnaires at Chiputula Primary School. Due to limited resources, we had the students take our pre-assessments using a test sheet with a separate answer sheet. From there, we enter all their answers into our survey tool manually. Since all together we have over 1000 students, it is quite the undertaking! We’ll switch places with them tomorrow, and we’ll get a chance to start planning our curriculum. They also asked Eliza for help to design the traditional headdresses using the cloths that we bought!
Highlights:
- Visiting Ekwendeni Hospital for the COVID-19 immunization data verification campaign
- Learning about changes in health beliefs and public health efforts in Malawi over the past decade
All the photos were taken by SHANTU (Verbal consent was obtained before taking the pictures)
