From Google Scholar & other sources: Selected Journal Articles, Newsletters, Dissertations, Theses, Commentary

Global Health Action
Volume 9, 2016 – Issue 1
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/zgha20/9/1
Special Issue: Millennium Development Goals in Vietnam: the Progress and Social Determinants
Original Articles
Timely immunization completion among children in Vietnam from 2000 to 2011: a multilevel analysis of individual and contextual factors
Article: 29189 | Received 18 Jul 2015, Accepted 11 Jan 2016, Published online: 01 Mar 2016
Dao Thi Minh An, Jong-Koo Lee, Hoang Van Minh, Nguyen Thi Huyen Trang, Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, You-Seon Nam & show all
Abstract
Background
Since the beginning of 2014, there have been nearly 6,000 confirmed measles cases in northern Vietnam. Of these, more than 86% had neither been immunized nor was their vaccination status confirmed.
Objective
To establish the likelihood that children under five in Vietnam had ‘timely immunization completion’ (2000–2011) and identify factors that account for variations in timely immunization completion.
Design
Secondary data from the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), which sampled women aged 15–49 from the 1999 Vietnamese Population and Housing Census frame, were analyzed. Multilevel analysis using Poisson regression was undertaken.
Results
Proportions of children under five who had timely immunization completion were low, especially for HBV dose 2 and HBV dose 3, which decreased between 2000 and 2011. Among seven vaccines used in the National Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) in 2000, 2006, and 2011, measles dose 1 had the highest timely immunization completion at 65.3%, 66.7%, and 73.6%, respectively, and hepatitis B dose 1 had the lowest at 17.5%, 19.3%, and 45.5%, respectively. Timely immunization completion was less common among children whose mothers had relatively less household wealth, were from ethnic minorities, lived in rural areas, and had less education. At the community level, the child’s region of residence was the main predictor of timely immunization completion, and the availability of hospital delivery and community prenatal care in the local community were also determinants.
Conclusion
The EPI should include ‘timely immunization completion’ as a quality indicator. There should also be greater focus and targeting in rural areas, and among women who have relatively low education, belong to minority groups, and have less household wealth. Further research on this topic using multilevel analysis is needed to better understand how these factors interact.

Australian Nursing and Midwifery Journal
Volume 24 Issue 8 (Mar 2017)
https://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=657984558266413;res=IELHEA
Journal Article
Ethics, evidence and the anti-vaccination debate
Johnstone, Megan-Jane1
Abstract:
In this statement the NMBA made clear its expectation that, when providing advice on immunisation, nurses and midwives have a fundamental responsibility to make use of ‘the best available evidence’ and to uphold their respective profession’s code of conduct and code of ethics. It further warned that any nurse or midwife who failed to uphold the standards of evidence based immunisation or who published or gave advice on immunisation that was ‘false, misleading or deceptive’ could face prosecution by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Significantly, the NMBA released its statement after it became aware that a small number of nurses and midwives were promoting anti-vaccination statements via social media.

Challenges in Health and Development
Date: 07 March 2017
Development in Failed and Fragile States
SA Johnson
Abstract
Failed states and states in conflict are special cases in terms of health and development in that the national government, the main party responsible for directing policy to improve national well-being, may lack the resources, will or legitimacy to provide health infrastructure or opportunities for economic development . Although NGOs can fill the power and resource vacuum in these states in the short term, they may not contribute to sustainable health care delivery or development. A main policy challenge in failed and conflict-ridden states is how best to scale up programs offered by diverse actors targeting health and/or development. A second challenge is building resources and capacity to transform fragility into stability and achieving an adequate level of sectoral development in order to be able to respond to extraordinary threats to national and human security . The first two case studies examined in this chapter are Partners-in-Health/Zanmi LaSante in Haiti , which serves as a model for up-scaling, and the Government of Rwanda , which worked to consolidate and direct the resources of disparate non-governmental actors in order to meet national development and health goals. The final case study explores the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa, which took hold in three fragile states where it grew to unprecedented levels.

Journal of Women’s Health
Online Ahead of Print: March 6, 2017
Human Papillomavirus Vaccine as an Anticancer Vaccine: Collaborative Efforts to Promote Human Papillomavirus Vaccine in the National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program
Julie S. Townsend, MS,1 C. Brooke Steele, DO,1 Nikki Hayes, MPH,1 Achal Bhatt, PhD,2 and Angela R. Moore, MPH1
1Division of Cancer Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
2National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Abstract
Widespread use of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has the potential to reduce incidence from HPV-associated cancers. However, vaccine uptake among adolescents remains well below the Healthy People 2020 targets. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Comprehensive Cancer Control Program (NCCCP) awardees are well positioned to work with immunization programs to increase vaccine uptake. The CDC chronic disease management information system was queried for objectives and activities associated with HPV vaccine that were reported by NCCCP awardees from 2013 to 2016 as part of program reporting requirements. A content analysis was conducted on the query results to categorize interventions according to strategies outlined in The Guide to Community Preventive Services and the 2014 President’s Cancer Panel report. Sixty-two percent of NCCCP awardees had planned or implemented at least one activity since 2013 to address low HPV vaccination coverage in their jurisdictions. Most NCCCP awardees (86%) reported community education activities, while 65% reported activities associated with provider education. Systems-based strategies such as client reminders or provider assessment and feedback were each reported by less than 25% of NCCCP awardees. Many NCCCP awardees report planning or implementing activities to address low HPV vaccination coverage, often in conjunction with state immunization programs. NCCCP awardees can play a role in increasing HPV vaccination coverage through their cancer prevention and control expertise and access to partners in the healthcare community.

Cancer Epidemiology. Biomarkers & Prevention
March 2017 Volume 26, Issue 3
ASPO 41st Annual Meeting Abstracts
Health System-Based HPV Vaccine Reminders: Randomized Trial Results
N Henrikson, W Zhu, M Nguyen, L Baba, H Berthoud and A Hofstetter
DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-17-0031 Published March 2017
Abstract
Purpose: Evaluate the impact of health system-based outreach and reminders on human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine series initiation and completion.
Methods: We conducted a 12-month randomized trial at an integrated care system in the Pacific Northwest in 2015–2016. Parents of 10–12 year olds who had not received any doses of HPV vaccine were randomized to an intervention group (mailed letter and brochure followed by an interactive voice recognition (IVR) reminder call encouraging HPV vaccine initiation) or usual care control group. Parents could opt in to receive future messages via SMS text message on all calls. Parents of intervention group children who initiated vaccination were re-randomized to receive either no further reminders or reminders for doses 2/3. We interviewed a subset of 50 parents to assess were HPV vaccine initiation (within 12 months or 120 days of the initial letter), on-time series completion (within 210 days of initiation), and time to vaccination, assessed with Kaplan-Meier survival analyses.
Results: 1624 children were eligible for randomization (46% age 10, 32.9% age 11, 20.4% age 12). The sample was 48.3% female and 64.6% white. Rates of overall HPV vaccine initiation were similar between the intervention and control groups (49.0% and 45.8%, P = 0.26), but initiation within 120 days of outreach was higher in the intervention group (23.6% and 18.8%, P = 0.04). This effect continued through to completion within 12 months (10.3% vs. 6.8%, P = 0.04). Opt-in rates to SMS were low: 24 people completed the opt-in process. Rates of on-time series completion were similar in those who received dose 1 reminders only compared to those who received reminders for all vaccine doses (12.1% and 19.7%, P = 0.10); time-to-completion results were similar. Parent interviews suggested reminders were acceptable and useful.
Conclusion: Reminder calls after an outreach letter led to more timely vaccine initiation and overall completion. Reminders beyond the initial letter and reminder call did not appear to impact vaccine series completion. The program was acceptable to parents, though there was low uptake of SMS reminders