Mbale authorities rue "flawed" UBOS figures for affecting immunization coverage
Authorities in Mbale have said that inaccurate data from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) has contributed to the difficulties encountered in the current immunization campaigns.
This came to light during a town hall meeting hosted by the Ministry of Health, in partnership with PATH and the Mbale Area Federation of Communities (MAFOC).
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The meeting was designed to engage key stakeholders on the vital role of immunization in safeguarding children, families, and livelihoods, while also preparing for the upcoming "big catch-up" immunization drive.
The event, held at Court View Hotel in Mbale, brought together a diverse group of participants, including ministry and local government officials, religious and cultural leaders, and community representatives.
The engagement began with a review of the recent vaccination campaigns, where it was noted that both Mbale district and Mbale city had underperformed in terms of immunization coverage in the recent polio vaccination.
Participants noted a critical vaccine stock-out which left several children unvaccinated.
Dr. Moses Mugonyi, the City Health Officer, attributed the poor vaccination coverage to inaccurate demographic data from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) which created a mismatch between the planning and actual needs on the ground.
He explained that UBOS data estimated the population of Mbale City at 315,000, with approximately 20.5% of that being children under five, which set a target of 73,000 children for the vaccination campaign.
However, they vaccinated 91,000 and 111,000 children in the first and second rounds of vaccination respectively. Despite their best efforts, they were unable to reach all the villages and schools.
As a result, the team had to borrow vaccines from neighboring districts like Tororo and Butalejja to fill the gap.
“That’s why we have such a large number of children in Mbale who remain unvaccinated,” Dr. Mugonyi concluded.
He highlighted the repercussions of this failure, explaining that when a community is energized for a service and it is not delivered, it breeds mistrust.
Emily Cheptoyek, the Principal Nursing Officer in the Ministry of Health also doubling as the Regional Immunization Coordinator, echoed these concerns.
She explained that planning for these services requires registering numbers at the community level using Village Health Teams (VHT) to capture the actual number of children before any interventions are planned.
Additionally, challenges such as myths and misconceptions, difficult terrain, wide catchment areas, and concerns about the welfare of Village Health Teams (VHTs) were highlighted as further impediments to reaching all target populations.
Professor Kiwanuka Tondo, an expert in statistical analysis from Uganda Christian University, has challanges UBOS to detail how they collected and analyzed the data.
The problems caused by UBOS’s data underline the critical impact of inaccurate information on planning and service delivery.
