Administrative documents and blank COVID-19 vaccine records at the vaccination site in the indigenous community of Concordia, Colombia on 16 March 2021.
Strengthening home-based records implementation
Home-based records are documents that track an individual's history of health services. These records, kept at home in either paper or electronic format, are brought to health visits for updates by health workers. They complement the records maintained by health facilities and are an important component of maternal, newborn, and child health services, including immunizations and nutrition.
Home-based records have evolved significantly. Initially used in the mid-1800s for smallpox vaccination proof, they later documented health services and education for mothers in Japan during the mid-1900s. Today, many countries use various forms of these records, from simple vaccination cards to comprehensive maternal, newborn, and child health handbooks.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of home-based records, to complement health facility records, for the care of pregnant women, mothers, newborns and children to improve care-seeking behaviours, men’s involvement and support in the household, maternal and child home care practices, infant and child feeding, and communication between health workers and women, parents and caregivers.
Despite their benefits, implementation of home-based records faces several challenges, including:
- Stockouts due to poor planning or lack of funds.
- Inadequate use by health workers.
- Poor retention by families.
- Low-quality printed records.
- Designs that do not meet user needs.
Home-based records can inadvertently contribute to inequities, such as requiring payment for records or denying school entry without vaccination proof.
To address these challenges, WHO, UNICEF, and the Japan International Cooperation Agency developed a guide titled "Strengthening implementation of home-based records for maternal, newborn, and child health". This guide offers tools and activities to strengthen planning, content selection, design, implementation, and monitoring of home-based records.
