Gabi Burgin
February 23
Data Science COLL 150
The DTP vaccine is essential to sustaining newborn life and a majority of the countries that makeup Africa have astonishingly low coverage rates. These low coverage rates stem from the lack of resources and capital to provide immunization. By not having access to something as fundamental as a vaccine, the infantile mortality rates in these countries are extremely prominent. With a 90% success rate, all countries around the world should have access to this life-saving medicine.Without the vaccination, infants have a 70 to 100 percent chance of dying, and more resources, information, and capital need to be invested into global healthcare to increase the existing 86% world coverage rate into 100%.
Thirteen standing countries exist that have yet to fully eliminate tetanus: a disease that is prevented from the DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) vaccine. Nine of these thirteen countries have less than 50 percent coverage, with six of the nine countries located in Africa. This vaccine is used as a gauge for the extent to how vaccine-regulated countries around the world are. The DTP vaccine is used 86 percent globally with 112 countries meeting 90 percent utilization for the past three years. The use of the vaccine is crucial due to the incredibly high newborn fatality rate at 70 to 100 percent. Chad, Guinea, and Somalia are three of the nine countries in existence to have less than 50 percent DTP vaccination coverage in their country. Many factors such as, “conflict, under-investment in national immunization programmes, vaccine stock-outs, and disease outbreaks” prevent countries such as these from receiving the vaccine resources that they require. In line with Amartya Sen, the inability to receive this essential vaccination stems from the branches of unfreedoms he discussed. More specifically, security and economics. Sen’s definition of human development involves not only increasing incomes, but being able to sustain and employ freedoms, many of which are diminished due to the inability to receive this vaccination. The lacking vaccine coverage rates stem from these unfreedoms and create poverty. The realm of easily accessible health care is tackled in this source, mentioning goals of increasing vaccination rates until there is a 100 percent coverage worldwide. Many interactive maps, charts, and graphs present the data in an informative and clear cut way through the use of data science techniques such as visualization and descriptive statistics. WHO and UNICEF provided the data being used, however it is not stated how the data was obtained; most likely through census reports or population-based surveys. The neonatal and infancy stages of human development are addressed as the vaccine contributes predominately to newborn children. Additionally, the data presented aligns with the sustainable development goals of poverty analysis, global healthcare, disease control, and good health/well-being. These SDGs play a significant role in the overall state of physical health a country is in. Through the gathering and publishing of this data, the authors are tackling the scientific question of whether global vaccination rates will be raised so that children, especially in non-vaccinated areas, will be able to live rather than being healthcare-neglected. Additionally, they are questioning whether or not the 86 percent global DTP vaccine coverage rate will ever be raised to 100 percent and how human development needs to progress in order to get there.
The DTP vaccine is essential to prolonging newborn life and many countries in Africa don’t have the resources needed to provide the vaccine. Upon conducting 183 population-based surveys on dose specific DTP coverage in Africa from 2000-2016, pixel-level map estimates were created. 52 countries participated in the surveys, allowing for the data collected to be produced into geospatial data sets. The surveys used responses based on the presence or absence of vaccine cards or maternal recall. The mentioned vaccine cards provide information on the type and number of vaccines a person was given and at what time. If a child didn’t have a vaccine card, the mother would recall whether or not her child received the vaccine after being born. Not being able to obtain this vaccine is a predominant unfreedom Amartya Sen describes: both economic and negligent. It stems from the economic unfreedom because the country doesn’t have the many resources and capital needed to provide this crucial vaccine to their citizens, and is negligent because the country at hand is failing to provide and partake in necessary care. In this day and age with how medicine has advanced, the DTP vaccine is now a primitive thing. It is a fundamental source of healthcare that shouldn’t be a question whether or not someone has access or not. The infantile stages of human development are addressed as this vaccine applies to newborn children. Additionally, global healthcare is an essential part of sustaining human life, a sustainable development goal this article describes. Through the gathering of the data, geospatial maps were created to show the development and increase in DTP vaccine coverage in Africa from the years 2000-2016. GeoTIFF raster, CSV, and code files were turned into black and white mapped images of Africa, visually representing the gradual increase in the use of the DTP vaccine. Upon looking at the images produced, you see a pattern in central Africa for having the constant lowest coverage and southern Africa for beginning with higher coverage than other countries and increasing moderately. Additionally the Saharan Desert produced a great divide between northern and southern Africa, but Northern Africa remained constant in the images throughout all sixteen years. This increase in the use of the DTP vaccine symbolizes more accessible health care and resources and fewer infantile fatalities: a step in the right direction to complete world DTP coverage. Global healthcare will always be a controversial issue and the authors of this article are begging the question: Will there be a day that vaccine coverage will reach 100% and reduce the number of unnecessary infantile and child deaths?
In order to successfully deliver vaccinations, many mechanisms must interconnect to complete the task. Supplementary Immunization Activities (SAIs) are used when gaps need to be filled and in order to increase vaccination coverage when traditional vaccination methods aren’t feasible. This source used, “Demographic and Health Surveys data” in order to map and predict, “1x1 km spatial resolution in five low- and middle-income countries to identify areas that are under-vaccinated via each delivery method.” Four out of the five countries are located in Africa and the mapped estimates are for the DTP3 vaccine. Routine immunization (RI) is a great predictor of whether or not countries receive vaccines such as DTP3, as it is the third booster dose of the vaccine. Without the use of these vaccines, infantile mortality rates increase to substantially high numbers. By using the mapped data, SIAs and RI are found to be correlated to higher vaccination rates. When countries have high infantile mortality rates, the SIAs available to the country and the routine immunization records can be checked to see why the rates are low. Without the use of SIAs and RI, countries have less opportunities to get the vaccinations and thus their coverage rates struggle. The mapped data was used to show the differences between vaccination rates in Nigeria, Mozambique, DRC, and Ethiopia. The data concluded that Mozambique had the highest relative DTP coverage rate among the four countries, however all four countries had rates that could increase significantly. This data ties into Amartya Sen’s definition of human development because Sen states how human development is not merely the process of receiving benefits, but rather that people are the driving force of change and are active participants in advancing human development. This article ties into this definition as it states how not only do the citizens of these African citizens need the benefits of the vaccinations provided to them, but they themselves are the driving forces that are causing change to happen. In regards to sustainable development goals, the article is trying to reduce poverty, increase global health, and decrease inequalities. Through the data gathered, the authors of the article are attempting to answer the scientific question of, “Is global vaccine coverage a possibility through the use of SAIs and RI in lower-income, poverty stricken countries?”
The sustainable development goal of “preventable mortality of children” is tackled in this source. In Africa, there are immensely high infantile fatality rates due to the absence of DTP vaccinations, tying in to the SDG mentioned. If the DTP vaccination rates were to be increased, this SDG would be tackled and fewer children would die from disease. The sustainable development goals of reducing poverty and enacting globally accessible healthcare are also tackled by this article, seen through the data collected and the main idea of the source. In order to gather data on the preventable mortality of children, household survey data in Sub-Saharan Africa and spatial distributions of child mortality rates were produced. Geospatial datasets were also used to compare other external environmental factors that may be enhancing the mortality rates. When looking at how the DTP vaccine connects to the mortality of children, it was shown to cause harm to children under the age of five, and the data showed that the DTP3 vaccine had the lowest coverage rates in Africa of all of the locations studied by the World Health Organization. This shows how with the simplicity of a vaccination, not only would many infant and child lives be saved, but there would be primary prevention against these deaths. Amartya Sen’s poverty, economic, and security unfreedoms are tied into this article as we see countries in Sub-Saharan Africa unable to provide vaccinations to their citizens. Additionally, the safety of infants is diminished as their fatality rates increase without the DTP3 booster. This article shows the importance of not only receiving the initial dose of the DTP vaccine, but the need to continue getting the boosters in order for complete eradication of the tetanus, diphtheria, and percussion diseases. Through the created geospatial distributions, we learn about the pressing need for children to be vaccinated in Sub-Saharan Africa and the effects being unvaccinated have on their lives. Additionally, we can take away the scientific question of “Will the increase in the DTP vaccination coverage and decrease of other external environmental factors be able to complete the sustainable development goal of preventing childhood mortality?”
The DTP (dipherius, tetanus, and percussion) vaccine plays a consequential part in the eradication of Polio. There are ten countries (seven of which are in Africa) remaining that require heightened vaccination rates in order to eliminate Polio. In these countries, a “Polio Endgame Eradication Strategic Plan” (PEESP) was enacted to increase the DTP3 vaccine coverage rates by ten percent. By using data country-specific information systems, Health Information Management Systems (HIMS), RI District Data Management Model (RIM), and surveys, data was collected in order to monitor the vaccination coverages and the success of the PEESP. Having good health and well-being is a primary sustainable development goal this article connects to. Eradicating Polio is an important step in ensuring that humans globally, no matter their income, race sex, etc. are able to live prosperily without worrying about the disease. The PEESP is an essential part of ensuring that this SDG will be met. Tying into Amartya Sen’s definition of human development, this article states how changes were met in order to diminish the unfreedom of security. Human development as Sen states is not merely a one step total ordering process, but rather working on multiple smaller aspects in order to remove unfreedoms from the human race as a whole. Additionally, unfreedoms such as poverty and insecurity were addressed through the inability to provide vaccinations and infantile fatalities. The enactment of the Polio Eradication Plan in turn lead to small increases in the DTP rates in countries that were labeled as needing immediate vaccine coverage growth. By enhancing these countries’ coverage rates, it not only assisted the country itself by lowering their chance to get Polio, but it assisted the world globally by reducing the risk of the disease spreading. By gathering data and publishing this article, the authors were explaining the scientific question of “Through the use of the PEESP, will DTP vaccine coverage grow enough to be able to one day fully eradicate Polio?”