JSI has been providing technical assistance to the rotavirus vaccine (RVV) introduction in India since 2015. In March 2016, India introduced an indigenously developed RVV in its Universal Immunization Programme, becoming the first country in the WHO South East Asian Region to do so. By the end of 2019, in just 100 days, the RVV was scaled up throughout the country, encompassing 36 states and union territories.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) conducted a post-introduction evaluation (PIE) to capture challenges, learnings, and best practices from the process. JSI, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, coordinated the exercise on behalf of the Immunization Division of the MoHFW. JSI adapted the standard World Health Organization PIE tool to the Indian and RVV context.
The rotavirus vaccine PIE in India has conceivably been the largest evaluation conducted for any vaccine in the world. The evaluation involved 64 evaluators from 16 partner organizations, who visited 28 districts in 14 states. Continuing the tradition of many firsts, (JSI) designed and used an interactive digital data collection and analysis tool that —
- Contained pre-populated reference charts/maps that explain the status of key indicators.
- Was developed in multiple versions so that evaluators could access the tool on different devices and ensure a back-up was created.
- Used close-ended questions for specific sections to reduce user error, while achieving depth by asking multiple successive questions.
- Used open-ended questions to obtain descriptive answers and capture key points.
- Used color-coding to indicate complete and incomplete questions.
The digital tool reduced the overall manual effort and enabled real-time analysis. Its pre-populated data facilitated coverage of a huge geographic area in a short amount of time. Due to the metadata and the two real-time dashboards (tool completion, and data collection, analysis, & visualization), there were no monitoring challenges.
The digitized tool used for India’s RVV PIE can be adapted for other PIEs in the country and used as a reference or base for other countries planning a vaccine PIE.
This piece is part of a series on Combatting Rotavirus in India:
Part 2: Combatting Rotavirus in India: Rotavirus Vaccine Product Switch — Experiences Under the Universal Immunization Program in India
