Using Data to Keep Vaccines Cold in Kenya: Remote Temperature Monitoring with Data Review Teams for Vaccine Management

Global vaccination coverage rates have remained around 85% for the past several years. Increasing immunization coverage rates requires an effective cold chain to maintain vaccine potency. Remote temperature monitoring (RTM) technology for vaccine refrigerators has shown promise for improving the ability of supply systems to maintain optimal temperature conditions to ensure potent vaccines reach the end users. A pilot study of RTM technology and data use teams was implemented in 36 study sites in Kenya. Data were collected at baseline and endline points over a 3-month baseline and 7-month implementation period. Data included 44 qualitative interviews, process logs, meeting minutes from data use team meetings, and quantitative temperature and power data from the RTM devices. The ability of cold chain equipment to maintain World Health Organization-recommended temperatures in study sites improved markedly between the baseline and implementation periods, resulting in an improvement in total time spent in the correct range from 83.9% in the baseline period to 90.9% in the intervention period and an improvement in time spent in the too cold range from 6.5% to 1.5%. Friedman tests revealed that differences in time spent in the correct range and time spent in the too cold range during the course of the study were statistically significant (