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Brief Report
Lessons from a school-based vaccination response following a Diphtheria outbreak in eThekwini district, SA
Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases | Vol 39, No 1 | a610 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajid.v39i1.610
| © 2024 Azipheli E. Ngongoma, Moherndran Archary
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 13 December 2023 | Published: 23 August 2024
Submitted: 13 December 2023 | Published: 23 August 2024
About the author(s)
Azipheli E. Ngongoma, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South AfricaMoherndran Archary, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa; and Department of Paediatrics, King Edward VIII Hospital, Durban, South Africa
Abstract
Diphtheria is a life-threatening respiratory tract infection that causes outbreaks in susceptible populations. Between April and May 2018, an outbreak of diphtheria occurred in the eThekwini district. A school-based outbreak vaccination response was initiated to target vulnerable children and adolescents.
Contribution: This study adds to the limited data describing a school-based vaccination in an outbreak response and highlights successes and challenges. School-based outbreak vaccination response can rapidly increase vaccine coverage; however, additional community engagement may be required in vaccine-hesitant populations.
Keywords
diphtheria, outbreak, vaccination, school-based programme, challenges.
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