IMPLEMENTING A WEB-BASED IMMUNIZATION SCHEDULE REMINDER FOR POSTNATAL SERVICE DELIVERY

The mortality rate of infants under the age of five is still relatively high in many sub-Sahara African countries like Nigeria. Immunization remains the most crucial and cost-effective public health intervention scheme for protecting children in this region from vaccine-preventable diseases. Immunization, however, is only effective if the nursing mothers keep strict appointment schedules. To this effect, information technology can be leveraged to help in this regard. This paper thus implements a web-based immunization schedule reminder for postnatal service delivery. In order to realize the system, a component-based development approach was used to extend an existing electronic medical record to include the immunization schedule reminder. The resulting system is able to reduce child mortality by reducing the rate of missed appointment schedules. Keywords and phrases: immunization, child mortality, schedule reminder, postnatal service delivery