Surveillance of childhood vaccine-preventable diseases at health facilities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

• Published in: Eastern Mediterranean health journal Vol. 15; no. 3; pp. 532 - 543
• Main Authors: Ibrahim, N K R, Al Bar, H M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Egypt 01.05.2009
• Subjects: Chi-Square Distribution; Child; Child Welfare - statistics & numerical data; Child, Preschool; Communicable Disease Control - methods; Communicable Diseases - epidemiology; Cross-Sectional Studies; Educational Measurement; Female; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; Health Personnel - education; Health Personnel - psychology; Humans; Male; Manuals as Topic; Needs Assessment; Population Surveillance - methods; Public Health - education; Public Health - methods; Registries; Saudi Arabia; Surveys and Questionnaires; Saudi Arabia
• ISSN: 1020-3397
• DOI: 10.26719/2009.15.3.532

A cross-sectional study was conducted at 33 randomly selected health facilities in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to assess health facilities' performance and health workers' knowledge of surveillance activities for childhood vaccine-preventable diseases. The WHO surveillance assessment questionnaire and a specially designed knowledge questionnaire were used. There were deficiencies in some surveillance items. The percentages of health facilities that had the surveillance manual and correctly filled clinical registers were 57.6% and 60.6% respectively. In the 6 months preceding the study, 36.4% of facilities lacked the appropriate surveillance forms while only 18.2% had received supervision reviews. Only one-quarter of health workers had a satisfactory knowledge score.