Use of cellular phone contacts to increase return rates for immunization services in Kenya

Introduction: in Kenya, failure to complete immunization schedules by children who previously accessed immunization services is an obstacle to ensuring that children are fully immunized. Home visit approaches used to track defaulting children have not been successful in reducing the dropout rate.Methods: This study tested the use of phone contacts as an approach for tracking immunization defaulters in twelve purposivelyselected facilities in three districts of western Kenya. For nine months, children accessing immunization services in the facilities were tracked and caregivers were asked their reasons for defaulting.Results: in all of the facilities, caregiver phone ownership was above 80%. In 11 of the 12 facilities, defaulter rates between pentavalent1 and pentavalent3 vaccination doses reduced significantly to within the acceptable level of < 10%. Caregivers provided reliable contact information and health workers positively perceived phone-based defaulter communications. Tracking a defaulter required on average 2 minutes by voice and Ksh 6 ($ 0.07). Competing tasks and concerns about  vaccinating sick children and sideeffects were the most cited reasons for caregivers defaulting. Notably, a significant number of children categorised as defaulters had been vaccinated in a different facility (and were therefore "false defaulters").Conclusion: Use of phone contacts for follow-up is a feasible and costeffective method for tracking defaulters. This approach should complement traditional home visits, especially for caregivers without phones. Given communication-related reasons for defaulting, it is important that immunization programs scale-up  community education activities. A system for health facilities to share details of defaulting children should be established to reduce "false defaulters". Key words: Vaccination, immunization schedule, cell phones, defaulter tracking, Keny

The Role of Peer Counselors in the Promotion of Student Discipline in Ugunja Sub-County, Kenya

In spite of the existence of guidance and counseling services in schools in Siaya County for the management of discipline, in 2012, 32 schools went on the rampage. This scenario was suspected to be occasioned by lack of an effective alternative strategy to contain student indiscipline. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of peer counseling in promoting discipline among students in public secondary schools in Ugunja Sub-County, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised of 3500 students from public secondary schools. The researchers used the Table of Krejcie and Morgan to determine the sample size of 246. Instruments for data collection were questionnaires and interview schedules. Piloting was done in 4 institutions to obtain the instruments reliability. Face validity of the instruments was ascertained by the experts from the Department of Psychology and Educational Foundations. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, and percentages. Qualitative data was analyzed using thematic analysis. The study findings indicated that peer counseling has a significant role in promoting discipline among students in public secondary schools. The study recommends that peer counselors should be motivated in order for them to perform optimally