ArticlePloS one2022
Evaluation of the adverse events following immunization surveillance system, Ghana, 2019.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Knowledge and Perception of Caregivers Regarding Adverse Events Following Immunization and Associated Predictors at Hospitals in Osogbo, Southwestern Nigeria: A Cross-Sectional Study.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Safety monitoring of the RTS,S/AS01Malaria journal · 2026Review
- Quality and Timeliness of Pharmacovigilance Reporting in Malawi: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of Individual Case Safety Reports.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2026Article
- A comparative assessment of data completeness of the adverse events following immunization (AEFI) in DHIS2 at the early implementation stage in Bangladesh.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Prioritizing interventions to address healthcare worker barriers to reporting adverse events following immunization in Ghana.Vaccine · 2025Article
- Barriers and strategies to improve vaccine adverse events reporting: views from health workers and managers in Northern Ghana.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- Perception of healthcare administrators on the impediments of optimizing adverse events following immunization e-Reporting in Nigeria.PloS one · 2025Article
- Geopharmacosurveillance of reporting rates of events supposedly attributable to vaccination or immunization against COVID-19.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2025Article
- An evaluation of the surveillance system for monitoring and reporting adverse events following immunization in Kebbi State, Northern Nigeria: a mixed method approach.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The crucial role of pharmacovigilance in managing infectious diseases in lower and middle-income countries.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2024Article
- Assessment of adherence to pre-vaccination precautions and AEFI reporting practices during BCG vaccination in 4 hospitals in Ghana.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2023Article
- Barriers to optimal AEFI surveillance and documentation in Nigeria: Findings from a qualitative survey.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Enhancing global health security in Thailand: Strengths and challenges of initiating a One Health approach to avian influenza surveillance.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWith over 80% of children worldwide vaccinated, concerns about vaccine safety continues to be a public health issue. Ghana's Adverse Events Following Immunization surveillance started in 1978 with the objective to promptly detect and manage AEFI cases either real or perceived. Periodic evaluation of the surveillance system is critical for optimal performance; hence we evaluated the system to assess its attributes, usefulness and system's performance in meeting its objectives.
methodsA case of AEFI was defined as any untoward medical event occurring within 28 days after vaccination and may not necessarily have causal relationship with the vaccine use. We reviewed surveillance data and procedures for the period 2014 to 2018 and interviewed key stakeholders. Adapting the CDC's Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems, we assessed the system's attributes and usefulness. We performed summary descriptive statistics on quantitative data and directed content analysis on information gathered from interviews.
resultsIn all, 2,282 AEFI cases including 476 (21%) serious cases (life threatening events) were reported for the period. The highest case detection rates of 61.45 AEFIs per 100,000 surviving infants was recorded in 2018. Reporting forms were modified to accommodate new indicators without any disruption in the function of the system. At the national level, completeness of 100 randomly sampled reporting forms (100%) and was higher than the region (27%) but timeliness (50%) was lower than the region (83%). All (16/16) Community Health Nurses interviewed indicated "fear of being victimized" as the reason for underreporting, nonetheless, the system was useful as it made them cautious when vaccinating children to prevent reactions. Data on AEFI surveillance was also useful in guiding training needs and provision of vaccination logistics.
conclusionThe AEFI surveillance system is useful at all levels but partially meeting its objective due to underreporting. We recommend training and supportive supervision to improve timeliness of reporting, data completeness and acceptability.
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