During the December 2002 measles vaccination campaign in Ghana, Ghana Red Cross Society (GRCS) volunteer collected data on Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) from mothers and caretakers who brought children to measles vaccination posts. The results indicated that social mobilization, the Red Cross process of educating mothers and caretakers about the importance of vaccination, was the key factor in the success of the measles vaccination campaign.

Thirty Ghana Red Cross volunteers, known as assessors, conducted exit interview surveys in the Lawra district to collect data from respondents who arrived at vaccination posts during the week-long mass measles vaccination campaign Dec 9-13. The volunteers read and recorded 58 survey questions on handheld computers, PDAs, including the number of children at highest risk for contracting measles and information to determine the success of informing community members about the mass vaccination date, time and place, as well as the importance of bringing children to be vaccinated against measles.

Data overwhelmingly indicated that GRCS volunteers were effective in social mobilization to reach community members with their message to bring children to be vaccinated against measles.

• 818 surveys were completed in 70 villages, and eight towns reported that
• 81.1% of those surveyed had been visited in their home by a Red Cross volunteer before the campaign
• 55.6 % of surveyed Ghanaians who arrived at vaccination posts, first heard of the campaign through a Red Cross volunteer
• 29.8 % first heard about the campaign from health workers

“Red Cross volunteers are going house-to-house in the most difficult to reach places to make sure no child goes unvaccinated,” said Dr. Mark Grabowsky, senior health advisor for the American Red Cross. “These volunteers are helping us to achieve great success in reaching every at-risk child.”

More than 15,000 GRCS volunteers mobilized mothers and caretakers to bring 476,334 children to vaccination posts for measles vaccinations. Volunteers traveled to 75,381 houses in 1,170 communities to raise awareness in local communities about measles, its risk to children and the vaccination solution. By going house to house, volunteers were able to encourage community members to participate in the measles campaign by bringing their children to vaccination posts to receive the life-saving measles vaccination. Volunteers were making sure that every child in a community, no matter how isolated the area, had a chance to be vaccinated.

Assessors received training in the use of PDAs at the Lawra National In-Service Training Center. The PDAs in this study were Visor Neos (Handspring, Inc.) using the Palm Operating System, version 3.5 (Palm, Inc.). The PDAs were supplied by Satellife, Inc. The principal assessment method was an exit-interview survey by assessors on caretakers leaving the vaccination posts.

The use of PDAs eliminated errors that commonly occur in transcribing data from paper surveys to a database. It takes weeks to process data from paper survey and the percent of accuracy decreases dramatically. The PDA allows rapid, accurate, and low cost data collection and synchronization to the database.

Surveys also reported the following:

• 30.3% had at least one child who had measles in the past
• 5.3% had a child who died of measles
• 12.0% know of a child in his/her community who died of measles
• 60.6% had at least one child who had malaria in the past
• 11.4% had a child who died of malaria
• 9.8% know of a child in his or her community who died of malaria

The American Red Cross works closely with the African Red Cross national societies to mobilize mothers and caretakers to bring their children to be immunized. The American Red Cross assists national Red Cross societies by providing technical assistance and support to help build their capacities to mobilize and recruit volunteers, strengthen volunteer networks and improve operating systems. The estimated national coverage during the Ghana campaign was 102%.