Did the Ebola Outbreak Disrupt Immunisation Services? A Case Study from Liberia
Journal
Public Health ActionAbstract
Setting: All health facilities providing routine immunisation services in Liberia. Objective: To compare the number of routine facility-based and outreach immunisations and measles cases before, during and after the Ebola outbreak. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study. Results: Immunisation coverage for fully immunised children before the Ebola outbreak was 73%. Immunisation coverage for all antigens declined by half compared to baseline during the outbreak. These findings were similar in facility-based and outreach immunisations. During the outbreak, the proportion of fully immunised children dropped by respectively 58%, 33% and 39% in the most, moderately and least Ebola-affected counties. Immunisation rate of recovery in the post-Ebola period was respectively 82%, 21% and 9% in the most, moderately and least affected counties compared to the Ebola-outbreak period. Outreach immunisation recovered slowly compared to facility-based immunisation. The mean number of measles cases reported per month was 12 pre-Ebola, 16 Ebola and 60 post-Ebola. Conclusion: This study provides insights into the possible impact of an Ebola outbreak on countrywide immunisation. The outbreak weakened a struggling national immunisation programme, and post-outbreak recovery took significant time, which likely contributed to the measles epidemic. Recommendations for the improvement of immunisation services that could limit further preventable epidemics in Liberia and similar contexts at risk for Ebola are provided.PubMed ID
28744444Language
enISSN
2220-8372ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.5588/pha.16.0104
Scopus Count
Collections
Related articles
- Did the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Liberia affect HIV testing, linkage to care and ART initiation?
- Authors: Jacobs GP, Bhat P, Owiti P, Edwards JK, Tweya H, Najjemba R
- Issue date: 2017 Jun 21
- Effect of Ebola virus disease on maternal and child health services in Guinea: a retrospective observational cohort study.
- Authors: Delamou A, Ayadi AME, Sidibe S, Delvaux T, Camara BS, Sandouno SD, Beavogui AH, Rutherford GW, Okumura J, Zhang WH, De Brouwere V
- Issue date: 2017 Apr
- Effects of the 2014 Ebola outbreak on antenatal care and delivery outcomes in Liberia: a nationwide analysis.
- Authors: Shannon FQ 2nd, Horace-Kwemi E, Najjemba R, Owiti P, Edwards J, Shringarpure K, Bhat P, Kateh FN
- Issue date: 2017 Jun 21
- Knockdown and recovery of malaria diagnosis and treatment in Liberia during and after the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
- Authors: Dunbar NK, Richards EE, Woldeyohannes D, Van den Bergh R, Wilkinson E, Tamang D, Owiti P
- Issue date: 2017 Jun 21
- Performance-based financing contributes to the resilience of health services affected by the Liberian Ebola outbreak.
- Authors: Mussah VG, Mapleh L, Ade S, Harries AD, Bhat P, Kateh F, Dahn B
- Issue date: 2017 Jun 21