Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) for Study Session 8

Answer

The six planning steps in the correct sequence are:

1. assessing the community’s health needs
2. identifying and prioritising problems to be addressed
3. setting goals and objectives
4. agreeing strategies and activities in the annual action plan, including resource requirements
5. implementing the service
6. monitoring and evaluating progress towards meeting the targets.

Answer

You should also consider the socioeconomic impact of reducing each problem, the feasibility of available solutions to each problem (are the required actions realistically deliverable, and do you have adequate resources?), and whether they are likely to be affordable within existing budgets. Another consideration in prioritising your activities is whether the beneficiaries in the community will find your solutions acceptable, and whether they meet local and government concerns.

Answer

• A is true. Community discussion and approval is essential during the development of your annual immunization action plan.
• B is false. If a mother has lost the immunization card for her child, you should not send her home. You should question her carefully to see if she remembers what vaccines her child has received and the date of the last immunization. Check your EPI Registration Book to see if you can find an entry for her child’s previous immunizations and give the next dose accordingly. If there are no available records and there are no contraindications, give the child the appropriate EPI vaccines based on its age.
• C is true. The percentage of newborns protected at birth (PAB) from neonatal tetanus is a good indicator of progress towards achieving adequate TT doses for their mothers during pregnancy. The maternal antibodies developed by women who have had TT2+ within 2 weeks of delivery will protect their newborns from tetanus.
• D is false. A fully immunized child has received all doses of all the EPI vaccines scheduled for routine immunization — including measles vaccine — by its first birthday.
• E is true. Accurate entries in your EPI Registration Book during each immunization session will help you to estimate the number of doses of vaccine needed for future sessions.

Answer

You should also tell her to bring her baby for her next dose of these vaccines in 4 weeks’ time, at 10 weeks old, and explain that possible side-effects of the vaccines her baby received are mild swelling and soreness at the sites of vaccination and a slight fever, but these are nothing to worry about.

Answer

• a.Before you arrive at an outreach site, the community volunteers should prepare the area for the immunization session by setting out a registration table and a table at which immunizations can be given, and some chairs or other places for clients to wait for their turn. The tables should be clean and the area should be tidy and well shaded, so that everyone is protected from sun and rain, and the vaccines are not exposed to heat or sunlight.
• b.Support for the community volunteers at the outreach site should be provided in the form of adequate training and supportive supervision, to enable you to deliver a safe and effective immunization service with their help.
• c.Before leaving the site at the end of the outreach session you should collect all waste and safety boxes for safe disposal back at your Health Post, and leave the area clean and tidy — just as you found it. Don’t forget to thank all the volunteers!